For the first time since the Olympics and Paralympics started being held in the same city in 1988, there will be two different venues for the swimming competitions.
On Tuesday, organizers for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics unveiled the plan for Paralympic venues, with the swimming competition scheduled to be held in Long Beach.
A temporary outdoor aquatics center will be built on a lot adjacent to the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center for the Paralympic swimming competition.
The swimming venue for the Olympic Games will be at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Events for Paralympic swimming will take place in backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. Mixed medley relays will be held also.
Competitors will compete in heats based on disability classification, which will have them either diving into the pool or starting a race directly in the water.
It will be the first time that different swimming venues will be used for the Olympics and Paralympics since 1984, but that was also the last year that the two events were held in different cities. The Paralympics were split between Stoke Mandeville, England and Long Island, New York, while the Olympics were in Los Angeles.
China won the most medals during swimming at the 2024 Summer Paralympics with 54 (22 gold, 21 silver, 11 bronze). The United States won 30 medals, 10 of them gold.
In addition to swimming, Long Beach will also host blind football, canoeing, climbing, rowing shooting and sitting volleyball during the Paralympics.
“The Paralympic venue plan ensures that Los Angeles’ first-ever Paralympic Games will take place in incredible existing stadiums and arenas across the region while creating the best possible experience for athletes and fans across the 560 events with accessibility top of mind,” LA 2028 CEO Reynold Hoover said in a press release.
As the international and USA community would love to see the competition in SOFI, I would say, let’s try to get USA swimming and USA para swimming to have a combined trials… National championship… Pro series… Competitions first. Every other country has seemed to figure it out. What is USA’s problem? Too many egos? Too many organizations not wanting split the revenue? Puhl-ease. Get your ass in gear and do it. Track and field did it this year. What’s your problem swimming?
I don’t think you actually understand the logistics of something like this for a National Championship which is the size of the one in the United States. You cannot compare what other countries do when their meets in general are less than 1/2 the size of competitors. Para swimmers can have exemptions to compete at pretty much any competition they want within the USA swimming calendar and please before you try and respond take a google at the fact I’m not someone who doesn’t understand the organizations and competitions being discussed.
I understand that they can’t rent Sofi for this but it is unfortunate. Hopefully all else will be good though. I’ve heard a few Paralympians on podcasts talk about the terrible 1996 games in Atlanta – the lack of proper access and the lack of food were real issues. Let’s hope 2028 proves to be a lot better.
I swam at the 2004 Olympic Trials Pool at that exact same parking lot. It was a great event. Even Ian Thorpe swam at the test event.
Aside from the massive cost of renting Sofi for an extra 2–3 weeks, there’s a good chance Sofi flat out said “no” to that being a possibility at all due to the scheduling conflict with the NFL preseason.
That’s exactly the reason. There will be a quick transition back to football for NFL preseason and since the facility hosts two teams (Rams and Chargers) just simply moving one teams games was not feasible.
Now I’m going to read up on blind football.
Edit: Ah it’s futbol not American football.
Too bad the new indoor belmont never worked our
Definitely. It’s really a shame that there is no top level indoor facility able to hold events like this in the entire state of California. I understand there are outdoor facilities and there are temporary pools stadiums/ arenas but it’s just not the same.
The new outdoor belmont doesn’t seem to be working out either. So far, $92 million and no shade or seating.
Yeah at this point I don’t even know why they bother. Might as well just leave the temporary one at this point.
Nothing says unity & equality quite like making the Para athletes compete in a parking lot pool for the Games. It’s also frustrating because I believe the Paralympic Village will be on UCLA’s campus in northwest LA, and Long Beach is southeast LA—so they’ll have to commute through practically the entire city. These athletes will be spending a sizable amount of time on buses every day.
The Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are two different events run by two different organizations, that have just agreed to hold their events in the same place.
The Paralympic Games cannot afford to keep SoFi as a pool for the extra two weeks. That’s just not practical.
They’re doing a disservice to the sport by holding it at a different venue, regardless of cost.
While I’m all for equality, at some point common sense on cost has to be taken into consideration when you are able to provide a wonderful experience given the other swimming pool is inside of a football stadium. While I applaud your passion, we have to be realistic and understand that we can provide these incredible Paralympic athletes an incredible experience without bankrupting entire entities in the process.
Getting the incredible experience of competing in a lesser venue then our Olympic counterparts is not an incredible experience. This is the first time in decades that they won’t be sharing venues, and it’s disheartening to see. It’s a step back for the paralympic movement.
Did you take a look at the pool they will be swimming in? It’s fantastic! The stadium couldn’t accommodate it, and they are getting the next greatest thing! All in all, a pretty great result considering the circumstances. A step back? Please, you take a step back and appreciate all that is going into not just swimming but the entire thing!
It’s not even just the cost. There’s a 0% chance Sofi is allowed to rent its stadium out to us during the NFL preseason even if they wanted to.
The disservice would be to hold the event at SoFi. The experience will be exponentially better in a venue where the stands are hopefully packed and the facility can be built out to make sure the needs of all the competitors are met due to the various disabilities being represented.
(For anyone who’s not aware, Justin is a three-time Paralympic swimmer/three time Paralympic gold medalist, and a pretty dang good swim coach too. So, his opinion carries a lot of weight).
Olympic Water Polo and Rowing are being held in Long Beach. Not sure what your issue is?
Might as well call this Long Beach 2028. They’re hosting way more events than LA is.
Long Beach is in LA county….