Omaha, Nebraska will host the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Swimming, the first time the event will be staged in a temporary pool in an indoor facility.

Today, USA Swimming announced the trials will be at the new Qwest Center Omaha, June 30-July 7, 2008.

“Omaha is a wonderful city that has flown under the national radar,” said Chuck Wielgus, Executive Director of USA Swimming. “It is a city poised to make a stunning debut with a renovated historic district, a revitalized downtown, a vigorous business environment and a sports-mad population ready to embrace our athletes.

“Some might raise their eyebrows at the awarding of our most important event of the Olympic quadrennial to Omaha, but we are confident this is going to be an extraordinary partnership that will serve the best interests of our athletes, their coaches and our sport.”

Two temporary 50-meter pools will be installed in the Qwest Center, which is a state-of-the-art, 17,000-seat sports and entertainment venue completed in September 2003. Connected to the arena is a new convention center, which will be the home for the USA Swimming Aqua Zone, the sponsor and fan experience area. The estimated seating capacity for the Trials will be 14,000.

Omaha, which boasts a population of approximately 800,000 in the metropolitan area, was selected over two other finalists: St. Paul, Minn., and San Antonio, Texas.

Beginning in September 2004, Wielgus appointed a task force charged with the job of reviewing the bids, making site visits, asking follow-up questions, evaluating all information and responses and ultimately making a recommendation to Wielgus.

The task force’s evaluation was focused on ensuring that USA Swimming was able to conduct a technically flawless competition, and to stage a spectacular event. Wielgus said Omaha’s bid was the strongest in terms of meeting all of the technical needs and presenting a strong marketing plan.

“Our desire was to find a host city partner who could meet our basic needs, and then take the event to an even higher level in 2008,” Wielgus said.

“The bids from each of the three finalists were outstanding. Each one surpassed the winning bid from Long Beach in 2004, which made the decision tougher, but also ensured that our sport would have an event in 2008 that would meet our goals and take the sport to a new level of public awareness and excitement. People are going to be blown away by Omaha.”

In addition to providing an excellent venue with ample seating capabilities and the ability to expand the Aqua Zone, Omaha will also have the opportunity to create a city-wide festival throughout the course of the event in order to celebrate the sport of swimming.

“This is our Super Bowl, our Final Four, our All-Star Game, and we want the host city to have the same atmosphere that you'd find in a city hosting one of these events,” Wielgus said.

“We were looking for a partner with the financial and promotional resources to grow the event, instead of simply managing it. Omaha is the type of host partner with its own story to tell and the motivation to tell that story using our sport as a platform.”