By: Serena Li

This year, the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana will host the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials. Indianapolis hasn’t hosted swimming trials since 2000, where it was held at the Indiana University Natatorium. This iconic stadium, which seats around 70,000 people, has hosted a Super Bowl in 2012, three men’s NCAA Final Fours and the CFP National Championship.

The construction of the olympic-sized pools started on May 12, 2024 and finished on June 6, 2024. Right now, the Lucas Oil Stadium has two Olympic-sized pools, separated by a curtain, with two million gallons of water. Ben Easley, a spokesperson for Citizens Energy Group, said “The water in those U.S. Olympic-sized pools came from the White River.” The water from the river is held in tanks, from where it can constantly be circulated, cleaned, and chlorinated.

The competition pool is made up of 10 lanes with dimensions of 50 meters in length, three meters in depth and 25 meters in width. The other two pools, which are in the other half of the stadium, have 25 and 50-meter-long warm-up lanes.

When the idea of building a pool in the stadium came up, Eric Nueberger, the Stadium Director of Lucas Oil Stadium, said, “Bring it on. I live for this stuff. Swimming has been an important part of my life, so I was all for trying to make this happen.”
While the stadium is able to seat around 70,000 people for full-capacity events, the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials will only have about 30,000 seats.There will also be 20 rows of removable seats on the deck, which is at the front, with a 50-foot-tall video board and center scoreboard.

It’s anticipated that Olympic pools in stadiums will become more common because swimmers can cheer on their teammates, and there will be less crowding since there’s more space.

Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5538777/2024/06/04/lucas-oil-stadium-pool-swimming-olympic-trials/?source=nyt_sports