Uytengsu Aquatics Center

The Uytengsu Aquatics Center (originally the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium) is an outdoor aquatics venue located on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, USA.[1] The facility features two pools: a long course pool (50x25 meters), and a diving well (25x25 yards), which features, with towers.[2] The facility is the home pool for the USC Trojans swimming and diving teams.

The facility was originally constructed for the 1984 Summer Olympics, and opened in July 1983.[2] Financial assistance for the construction of the facility came from McDonald's, and for the first 29 years of its existence, the stadium bore the name McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium.[3]

At the time of the '84 Games, it was called the "Olympic Swim Stadium", and was the main Aquatics venue at the Games, hosting competitions in Swimming, Diving, and Synchronized Swimming. (Note: Water Polo was held Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool in Malibu, California.)[4] For the Games, the facility featured temporary bleacher seating around the two pools, which were removed after the Games. In 1989, the Lyon Center was built on a portion of the land where the Games stands were.

The pool has hosted several high-level national meets since 1984, including the 1989 U.S. Swimming Nationals, the Swimming competitions at the 1991 U.S. Olympic Festival, and the 1993 U.S. Diving Nationals. It hosted the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship in 2002 and is slated to host again in 2014. It also hosted the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship in 2012.

The pool was closed in 2013, was rebuilt, and reopened in 2014 with its current name, a homage to USC alumnus Fred Uytengsu, who donated $8 million for the renovations.[5] The pool is named for former USC swim coach Peter Daland, while the diving tower was dedicated to Olympian diver Sammy Lee.

References

  1. ↑ McDonald's Swim Stadium page of usctrojansc.com (the website of the USC Trojans). Retrieved 2012-03-14.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 McDondald's Olympic Swim Stadium page of the Los Angeles Sports Council's website (www.lasports.org); retrieved 2008-08-24.
  3. ↑ McDonald's Olympic History, published by McDonald's in time for the 2006 Winter Olympics. Retrieved 2012-03-15.
  4. ↑ Official Report of the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad Los Angeles 1984 Volume 2: Competition Summary and results (note: this file is 50.8MB). Originally published in print form by the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee in 1985; digitally published by the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles in 1998, retrieved 2012-03-15.
  5. ↑ "Big Splash: USC Opens Uytengsu Aquatics Center".

Coordinates: 34°1′26.65″N 118°17′19.20″W / 34.0240694°N 118.2886667°W