Omaha prepares Qwest Center to host major swimming showcase
Argus Leader News
BY MATT ZIMMER
MZIMMER@ARGUSLEADER.COM
Omaha has become known for hosting the College World Series, but that baseball tradition won’t be the biggest amateur sports event to hit the city this summer. The U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials will be held at the Qwest Center from June 29-July 6. The venue has undergone a major face-lift to house an event that will welcome such luminaries as Michael Phelps and Amanda Beard – not to mention Sioux Falls natives Paul Gordon and Jake Mentele.
Normally an 18,000-seat capacity arena, the ‘Q’ has been shut down since early May for the installation of a temporary 50-meter Olympic pool (as well as a full-size practice pool). The pools, which hold a combined 2 million gallons of water, were provided by Myrtha Pools, an Italian company, and will reduce the arena’s seating capacity to about 14,000 for the trials.
Omaha was able to land the event in part through Mutual of Omaha’s longtime sponsorship of USA Swimming. The clincher was the Qwest Center itself. “This facility is just ideal,” meet director Harold Cliff told the Omaha World-Herald. “When I first saw it, it didn’t take much imagination to realize this was going to work.” Gordon, a Washington High graduate who will compete in the 200-meter individual medley, is in Omaha this weekend to participate in the Mutual of Omaha Swim invitational, which serves as a test event for the facility. The former Snow fox Swim team standout, after competing in the new pool, said he was excited about, the renovations to the Qwest. “It’s a fantastic facility,” Gordon said. “They have it built so the to the pool is right up to the lowest level seats. It’s really an amazing sight. There’s going to be a lot of people in there, so the event should be really exciting.
