As the 2024 World Aquatics Championships kicked off today in Doha, Qatar, the People’s Republic of China has been revealed as the host nation for the 2029 edition of the elite multi-sport competition.
The competition is returning to China for the first time in 20 years, with the last edition having taken place in the nation in Shanghai 2011.
World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam said today, “Beijing has repeatedly welcomed major aquatics events, providing excellent conditions that enable our athletes to perform at their very best. For this, we are deeply grateful.
“Thanks to our longstanding collaboration with our friends in China, we know the global aquatics community can look forward to world-class sporting action and entertainment in one of the world’s most iconic cities. We are also very thankful to the other cities that expressed an interest in hosting. The World Aquatics Championships have become a compelling event for participants, spectators, viewers, partners and organisers alike.”
China has organized over 100 major aquatics competitions including two editions of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This year, China will host three World Aquatics events, including the World Aquatics Articist Swimming World Cup in April, the World Aquatics Diving World Cup – Super Final in April and the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Shanghai this October.
A specific venue was not named for the 2029 World Aquatics Swimming World Championships, however, swimming at the Beijing-hosted 2008 Olympic Games took place at the National Aquatics Center, nicknamed ‘the water cube.’
During the Olympics, the venue had a capacity of 17,000 with 6,000 permanent seats and 11,000 temporary seats added. This was the spot where American Michael Phelps earned his historic eight Olympic gold medals.
After the Games, it was converted to a public water park with huge water slides, while maintaining its competitive swimming and training pools.
Great. I remember the Beijing OG in 2008 in the Water Cube. But four of the five WC between 2023 and 2029 take place in Asia. Question. Why the US never bid to host WC. The 1st edition took place in 1973. The US has never hosted Worlds. I don’t understand. Why ? When I think about Phelps, the GOAT has never been able to swim on his own soil whether for Worlds LC or Olympics. What a shame ! What does USA Swimming ? They don’t want to host the WC ???
There isn’t an American city that has all the facilities to host, and very little appetite or justification to build those kinds of facilities.
I’d much rather see a town or city commit to building 3-4 separate 50m pools and a decent and safe open-water venue than go all-in on the kinds of facilities needed for 3 weeks of use. Everyone would love to swim in a facility like the ones in Budapest, London, or Beijing, but we’d love it much more if we had lots of lanes and water available for teams/masters/L-T-S/L-T-D/Water Polo that can be used for years. No need for seating for 5000+ with giant scoreboards at the expense of lanes and access.
Is Atlanta not an option? Already have the Georgia Tech pool from ’96 Olympics.
There’s a requirement for 3-4000+ seats, a full 50m warmup pool, a high tower (20m?), and an open water venue.
The diving and swimming don’t have to be at the same venue (they aren’t even at the same venue this year nor last year).
This is bs. If they can put a temporary pool in an arena or stadium for Olympic trials then they can host the World Champs. The real reason is money.
Because no US city is willing to spend money to host World Championship.
Simple as that.
Toronto/Canada was the runner up from what I heard.
With the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, I’d thought Queensland (or Australia) might have put their hand up as a warm-up/prep meet. Maybe 2031?
If they build a new aquatic center, the economies of scale make a lot of sense. If it’s just the Brisbane Arena, then it’s nice for building excitement but otherwise not a significant cost savings.
Not sure what the plan is for WP, etc. If there’s a permanent venue being built for those with expandable/contractable seating, maybe that’s a good fit?
We’ve seen Olympic hosts have stuff *after* more often.
hammer up!
Is that Dennis Cotterel?
Is he back to coaching Sun Yang?
I wonder how much Denis got paid for all those years coaching Chinese swimmers. Must have been very lucrative.
Is the Water Cube still in use at all? If they can refurbish it and host these WCs there, that would be incredible.