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This June 15-23, Indianapolis has the honor of hosting the USA Swimming Olympic Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium. This unique and historic event will benefit Indianapolis in three significant ways.
First, over nine amazing days, we will build on our well-earned reputation as the best sports city in the world. It’s a rare opportunity to lift a sport to an entirely new level through a series of firsts. It is the first time a swim meet will be held in an NFL stadium—that’s right, we are building three pools on the field where the Colts play. It will be the largest swim meet in world history, with up to 30,000 fans in attendance per day, broadening the sport’s appeal to a wider audience. And it will be broadcast over nine nights on NBC, live and in prime time, featuring Indianapolis doing what it does better than anyone else.
Second, it will be a boost to the economic and cultural vibrancy of downtown. We will welcome more than 250,000 visitors to the city over the course of the nine days. Downtown will be activated the way we hosted Super Bowl XLVI, with live music and activities on Georgia Street, the Toyota Aqua Zone in the convention center, and even a 66-foot Eiffel Tower at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Georgia Street celebrating the send-off of the Olympians to Paris for the games. There will be free activities for fans and families of all ages.
Inside Lucas Oil, fans will experience one of the most pressure-packed and exciting sporting events anywhere. To make it to the Paris Olympics, the greatest swimmers in the world must be at their best at trials. It’s a simple formula: Finish first or second at trials or stay home. There are no second chances. We will be naming Olympians to the team every night, so each session will be special and exciting. The atmosphere inside Lucas Oil will be absolutely electric, and we have affordable tickets with great views. It will also be a fabulous corporate entertainment opportunity featuring VIP hospitality where you can rub elbows with Olympic heroes and the potential for behind-the-scenes tours of the pools themselves.
Third, our Trials Legacy Project includes teaching 50,000 kids and adults to be water-safe. To date, more than 25,000 kids have already learned basic swimming skills. Drowning is the second-highest cause of accidental death for kids under age 14, and the numbers in communities of color are unacceptable. The Legacy Project will drive multi-generational change—parents who know how to swim teach their kids to swim—and save countless lives.
Olympic Swimming Trials is our opportunity to take part in the Paris Olympics, as we will pick and send the best team from any country in any Olympic sport. It’s our opportunity to play a part in Olympic history. To make this event all it can be, we need our community and our local corporations to support the event. Olympic Trials will be the most exciting event of the summer. You won’t want to miss it!•
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Davison is chair, president and CEO of OneAmerica Financial and co-chair of the Local Organizing Committee for USA Olympic Team Trials—Swimming.
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