Swimming Australia has announced that it will host its 2012 Olympic Trials at the brand new SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Adelaide, Australia from March 15-22, 2012 (about 10 weeks earlier than the Americans are holding theirs). Adelaide is located in South Australia, and used their brand new (YMCA managed) aquatics facility to lure the games away from the Sydney Pool that has dominated the National scene since hosting the 2000 Olympics.
The last major meet to be hosted in Adelaide was the 1997 Pan Pac Championship Selection Trials, but the presence of the new $100 million facility was an opportunity that Swimming Australia couldn’t pass up. The facility is enough to make even Omaha, which does a spectacular job with US Trials, drool. It’s a permanent center that includes a 50m competition pool, a 50m diving/water polo pool, a 25m auxillary pool, and a 15m learn-to-swim pool, two water slides towering 72 and 102m each, retail and restaurant centers, a leisure pool (with a water playground), and an on-site, fully-equipped health club.
Adelaide has now secured a plethora of National-level swimming events in the next few years that includes this summer’s short course National Championships and World Championship relay selection trials (where superstar Libby Trickett is expected to debut and contend for a relay spot in Shanghai). Swimming Australia also awarded the facility the 2013 Australia Swimming Championships (LC) and Age Group Championships.
The Adelaide pool is, on paper, one of the finest permanent swimming venues in the world, and with the announcement of these major hosting opportunities, they’ll get the chance to prove whether or not the meets will match the quality of the facility.
2012 Major Australian Swimming Events
Australian Swimming Championships – SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre, Adelaide – Mar 15-22
Australian Age Championships – Sleeman Sports Complex, Brisbane – Apr 9-14
Australian Short Course Championships – Challenge Stadium, Perth – Sept 12-16
2013 Major Australian Swimming Events
Australian Swimming Championships – SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre, Adelaide – exact dates TBC
Australian Age Championships – SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre, Adelaide – exact dates TBC
Australian Short Course Championships – Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, Sydney – exact dates TBC