Friday, April 15, 2022
A Big Stadium for a Bigger Olympic Trials
Jake Mitchell attended the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming and left with one goal in mind: to qualify for the next Olympic Games, which he did in the 2020 Trials in the 400 freestyle.
Now, he’s excited about what other Olympic dreams will be launched in his hometown with the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming moving to Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Stadium.
“I think it’s really special that a lot of kids in the Indianapolis area and Indiana as a whole are going to be able to see that in their own backyard,” Mitchell said. “I think that’s really cool. The slogan is, ‘All great racers come to Indy.’ That will be true, for sure, in 2024.”
The decision to move Trials to Indianapolis from Omaha, Nebraska, which had hosted the previous four Trials, was an important one, USA Swimming Chief Commercial Officer Shana Ferguson said, and one that could help grow the sport not only in the area but across the country.
The fact that tickets for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming sold out quickly in the spring of 2019 before the postponement of the event suggests there’s a high demand for tickets. Omaha’s CHI Health Center can host a maximum of around 14,000 fans, whereas Lucas Oil Stadium with the new pool configuration should fit at least 30,000. (The largest crowd for an indoor swim meet ever was 25,000 at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, according to the International Swimming Hall of Fame.)
“Omaha was fantastic,” Ferguson said. “The athletes loved it, the spectators loved it, the spectacle we were able to make was phenomenal. It was gorgeous on TV. It was a great, great place for us to be for four [Trials], but we want more people to be able to feel the excitement of Trials in person. If there’s one chance every four years for us to put on a spectacle that’s watched around the globe, we’ve got to make it as big as we can.”
Indianapolis’s track record hosting major events also played into the decision to award the city the bid over fellow finalists Omaha, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.
The city hosted the entire NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament last year, the College Football Playoff national championship this year, the Super Bowl in 2012, and the NFL Combine, Indianapolis 500, and Brickyard 400 for many years.
“They’re used to big, big events, big conventions,” Ferguson said. “These are incredibly professional organizations: the Indiana Sports Corp., the City of Indianapolis and Visit Indy. They’re throwing major events multiple times a year. We get to walk into a city that knows how to do this really well and take their lead a little bit.
Of note, too, is the fact that the 1924 Olympic Team Trials – Swimming was hosted in Indianapolis, with the team selected to go to the Paris Olympic Games. One hundred years later, Indianapolis will again be the site of the US Olympic Swim Team named to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
This will be the seventh time that Indianapolis has hosted Trials, which would extend the city’s record for most times hosting the meet, and the first time since 2000, when Michael Phelps made his first Olympic team at age 15.
USA Swimming, in conjunction with the Indiana Sports Corp., plans to donate at least $400,000 before Trials to provide children in under-served areas around Indianapolis more opportunities to swim. The money could be used to conduct discounted swim lessons, building or refurbishing pools, helping USA Swimming clubs secure more lane space, or helping coaches in the area.
“The more kids we can get comfortable in and around the water, the safer Americans will be and thus the more kids who will be interested in competitive swimming,” Ferguson said. “We always want to grow the sport. We want more athletes getting in the water who are going to stand on the podium in 2036. We’ve got to find those kids now.
“Investing in the local community, being able to feel good about leaving something behind, leaving something of a legacy, is something we are all pretty excited about it. It is important work.”
Trials will look slightly different than it did in 2021.
After being run in two waves in 2021 because of the pandemic, the event will return to its prior format of having all swimmers compete together. Also, Trials will also expand from eight days to nine to match the expansion in the swimming schedule at the Olympics.
Although the roof at Lucas Oil Stadium can be opened, Ferguson said, it will be closed for Trials to limit the impact weather could have on the meet, to better mimic the indoor facility of the 2024 Paris Olympics and to help backstrokers have a roof to sight off of while swimming.
Mitchell can’t wait for Trials, can’t wait for other swimmers to enjoy the positives of his home, can’t wait for swimmers to experience swimming in a stadium he, along with other Olympians from Indiana, were honored in during an Indianapolis Colts game.
“Being on the field and looking up and seeing the massive stadium is just incredible. Imagine putting a pool in there, and that makes it even cooler, in my opinion, just because swimming’s better,” he said with a laugh. “I think it’s going to be an incredible atmosphere, and it’s going to be really cool. I can’t wait to see how it turns out because it’s a really cool facility.”
Now, he’s excited about what other Olympic dreams will be launched in his hometown with the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming moving to Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Stadium.
“I think it’s really special that a lot of kids in the Indianapolis area and Indiana as a whole are going to be able to see that in their own backyard,” Mitchell said. “I think that’s really cool. The slogan is, ‘All great racers come to Indy.’ That will be true, for sure, in 2024.”
The decision to move Trials to Indianapolis from Omaha, Nebraska, which had hosted the previous four Trials, was an important one, USA Swimming Chief Commercial Officer Shana Ferguson said, and one that could help grow the sport not only in the area but across the country.
The fact that tickets for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming sold out quickly in the spring of 2019 before the postponement of the event suggests there’s a high demand for tickets. Omaha’s CHI Health Center can host a maximum of around 14,000 fans, whereas Lucas Oil Stadium with the new pool configuration should fit at least 30,000. (The largest crowd for an indoor swim meet ever was 25,000 at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, according to the International Swimming Hall of Fame.)
“Omaha was fantastic,” Ferguson said. “The athletes loved it, the spectators loved it, the spectacle we were able to make was phenomenal. It was gorgeous on TV. It was a great, great place for us to be for four [Trials], but we want more people to be able to feel the excitement of Trials in person. If there’s one chance every four years for us to put on a spectacle that’s watched around the globe, we’ve got to make it as big as we can.”
Indianapolis’s track record hosting major events also played into the decision to award the city the bid over fellow finalists Omaha, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.
The city hosted the entire NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament last year, the College Football Playoff national championship this year, the Super Bowl in 2012, and the NFL Combine, Indianapolis 500, and Brickyard 400 for many years.
“They’re used to big, big events, big conventions,” Ferguson said. “These are incredibly professional organizations: the Indiana Sports Corp., the City of Indianapolis and Visit Indy. They’re throwing major events multiple times a year. We get to walk into a city that knows how to do this really well and take their lead a little bit.
Of note, too, is the fact that the 1924 Olympic Team Trials – Swimming was hosted in Indianapolis, with the team selected to go to the Paris Olympic Games. One hundred years later, Indianapolis will again be the site of the US Olympic Swim Team named to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
This will be the seventh time that Indianapolis has hosted Trials, which would extend the city’s record for most times hosting the meet, and the first time since 2000, when Michael Phelps made his first Olympic team at age 15.
USA Swimming, in conjunction with the Indiana Sports Corp., plans to donate at least $400,000 before Trials to provide children in under-served areas around Indianapolis more opportunities to swim. The money could be used to conduct discounted swim lessons, building or refurbishing pools, helping USA Swimming clubs secure more lane space, or helping coaches in the area.
“The more kids we can get comfortable in and around the water, the safer Americans will be and thus the more kids who will be interested in competitive swimming,” Ferguson said. “We always want to grow the sport. We want more athletes getting in the water who are going to stand on the podium in 2036. We’ve got to find those kids now.
“Investing in the local community, being able to feel good about leaving something behind, leaving something of a legacy, is something we are all pretty excited about it. It is important work.”
Trials will look slightly different than it did in 2021.
After being run in two waves in 2021 because of the pandemic, the event will return to its prior format of having all swimmers compete together. Also, Trials will also expand from eight days to nine to match the expansion in the swimming schedule at the Olympics.
Although the roof at Lucas Oil Stadium can be opened, Ferguson said, it will be closed for Trials to limit the impact weather could have on the meet, to better mimic the indoor facility of the 2024 Paris Olympics and to help backstrokers have a roof to sight off of while swimming.
Mitchell can’t wait for Trials, can’t wait for other swimmers to enjoy the positives of his home, can’t wait for swimmers to experience swimming in a stadium he, along with other Olympians from Indiana, were honored in during an Indianapolis Colts game.
“Being on the field and looking up and seeing the massive stadium is just incredible. Imagine putting a pool in there, and that makes it even cooler, in my opinion, just because swimming’s better,” he said with a laugh. “I think it’s going to be an incredible atmosphere, and it’s going to be really cool. I can’t wait to see how it turns out because it’s a really cool facility.”