INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis is days away from hosting the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium.
That means dozens of crews and volunteers this week are making final preparations ahead of the nine-day event.
One of the popular areas will be Georgia Street for “USA Swimming Live.”
The 10-day fan event kicks off on June 14 with the Starting Block Party from 5-9:30 p.m. and then runs through the last day of the trials on June 23. It will run from 1-7 p.m.
The free event includes live musical performances, food, drinks and more.
On Wednesday, several volunteers added color to the busy corridor with pink and purple flowers.
“We are going to turn this into sort of a Parisian feel,” said Caity Withers, one of the volunteers.
Others helped roll out new turf and added seating in front of Indy’s own Eiffel Tower outside of the convention center.
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“We want to make sure that people really have a taste of Indianapolis, and one of the things that makes that possible is an incredible dedication to volunteering and making these events really special,” said Taylor Schaffer, with Downtown Indy, Inc.
For those who aren’t Olympic-level swimmers, there will also be a way to test your skills without getting in the water.
“You will have a VR headset on and you will be swimming against two other swimmers,” said Christian Rogers, a Purdue computer graphics technology professor in Indianapolis.
Rogers is one of the professors who helped students create this game in just five weeks. It puts users in a virtual Purdue-themed pool to compete against each other.
“They are going to be swimming using their arms against one another to see who gets to the finish line first,” Rogers said. “You don’t have to know the breaststroke or the backstroke or anything like that — you can just do the doggy paddle.”
The VR experience will be set up on Georgia Street during the trials. Anyone can test it out.
You can find everything you need to know for the 2024 Olympic Swim Trials here.