Confirmed: Olympic swimming to undertake major transformation at the Los Angeles 2028 Games
A massive switch in Olympic Games’ scheduling, which will buck tradition, is coming in 2028. JULIAN LINDEN reports.
This is the photo that should finally jolt Brisbane’s dillydallying Olympic organisers into action.
While Brisbane 2032 organisers are still toying around with the idea of installing a temporary pool in the city for the biggest sport of the Olympic Games, Tinseltown has come up with a mind-blowing idea that makes a mockery of Australia’s penny-pinching approach.
The Olympic Games will undergo one of its biggest transformation in decades with confirmation that swimming and athletics will switch places for Los Angeles in 2028.
As exclusively revealed by this masthead more than seven weeks ago, the swimming competition will take place inside SoFi Stadium, the same sprawling suburban venue that has been used to stage the Super Bowl and Taylor Swift’s Era Tour concerts.
To accommodate the venue change because SoFi Stadium is also hosting the Opening Ceremony on July 14, 2028, the swimming competition, which normally starts the day after, will be pushed back to the second week, with track and field flipping to week one.
As previously reported by this masthead, the secret plan has been months in the making but has finally been made public after the stunning success of the US Olympic trials for Paris, which are currently taking place in an NFL Stadium in Indianapolis.
In a letter that was sent to all national swimming federations, including Australia, World Aquatics wrote:
“We are excited to confirm that Swimming will take place in the iconic Stadium in Inglewood, California. Home of the National Football League’s Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, it is an unparalleled sports and entertainment venue in the adjacent Los Angeles city of Inglewood, California.
“The opportunity to compete in such a spectacular venue will require an event schedule change. Through an agreement between the IOC, LA28, World Aquatics, and World Athletics, the swimming programme dates have been moved to the second half of the Games (with Athletics switching to the first half).”
While SoFi Stadium typically seats 70,000 spectators for NFL games and up to 100,000 for pop concerts, the state of the art facility will be reconfigured to hold about 38,000 fans for Olympic swimming, ensuring the biggest attendances at the sport since London 1908, when a custom-built 100-metre pool was constructed in the infield of White City Stadium, which had room for 68,000 people.
The choice of SoFi Stadium is not only a game changer for Australia’s favourite Olympic sport because it will allow swimmers to march at the Opening Ceremony but should also embarrass local sporting officials for their short-sightedness in preparing for the 2032 Olympics.
Although a formal announcement has not been made, it can also be revealed that Australia has lost out to Spain for the chance to host the 2031 world aquatics championships, the last major international event before the Brisbane Olympics.
That means Australia’s current crop of swimmers - which are arguably the greatest in history - could be retired before ever getting the chance to compete in a major international event in home waters after Victoria reneged on its commitment to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The problem is not only the lack of suitable venues in Australia but also the unimaginative approach by organisers.
While the US trials in Indianapolis are getting daily crowds of over 25,000 at Lucas Oil stadium in downtown Indianapolis, the Aussie trials took place in the outdated Brisbane Aquatic Centre, attracting a total of just 16,000 over the entire six days.
Brisbane 2032 organisers have been urged to think outside the square - even looking at following LA’s example and transforming Suncorp Stadium into a Queensland golden pond - but penny-pinching officials are still not listening.
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