There will be almost 2 million gallons of water floating around in the Qwest Center for the next six weeks.
That's because the Qwest Center is serving as the host site for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Swim Trials, which run June 29 through July 6. Over 1,000 swimmers from across the country will come to Omaha for a shot at qualifying to represent the United States in the 2008 Summer Olympics later this year in Beijing, China.
Some of the nation's top swimmers will be competing for a shot at Olympic glory, including several former Olympic gold medalists.
Headlining the group of gold-medal swimmers is MIchael Phelps, who had a phenomenal effort at the 2004 Olympics when he won an amazing eight gold medals. He will be back to try and repeat that feat and is already among the fastest swimmers in the U.S. in several events.
Top female swimmers like Dana Vollmer and Dara Torres will be on hand, as will Amanda Beard, Kara Lynn Joyce, Natalie Coughlin and many more. A total of 28 swimmers with Olympic experience will be among those competing.
The Qwest Center has two pools already set up, including a practice pool in the convention center and the competition pool in the main arena. Both pools hold almost 1 million gallons of water and were shipped to Omaha from Italy. It took workers a little over a week to construct each pool and fill them up, and they will be competition-ready by next weekend when the Qwest Center plays host to the final pre-Olympic tune-up, the Mutual of Omaha Swimvitational that starts on June 3.
Get your tickets to the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials now at Ticket Express -- where no event is ever sold out.
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