The 2000 US Olympic Trials

Dateline:  08/06/2000

Updated: 08/16/2000 - The 2000 US Olympic Swimming Team

August 9th through 16th, the Indianapolis University Natatorium will be the center of swimming for the United States as hundreds of athletes race for the chance at Olympic Gold. The results of the US Olympic Swimming Trials are something I am looking forward to with great anticipation - as are the rest of the swimmers, coaches, parents in the USA Swimming family. 

The events contested include the 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 (for women) and 1500 (for men) freestyle, 100 and 200 of  back, breast, and fly, and the 200 and 400 individual medley. The top two swimmers in each event qualify to compete in the individual event in the Olympics, assuming both swimmers meet the "A"  Olympic qualifying standard (it is very unlikely that anyone at the US Trials would not make the Olympic standard, but it can happen, as it did in the US women's marathon trials). In the freestyle events, the third through sixth place swimmers may also be selected to  comprise the relay pool. 

You can get a preview of the athletes in each event and you can review the psyche sheet, listing all of the entrants for each event. The meet is a heats (preliminary swims), semi-final, and final format, following the same format as the Sydney Olympics. The fastest swimmers will move on from the preliminary rounds to the semi-finals and race again. The winners and next set of fastest swimmers will then advance to the finals.

You can follow some of the action on TV. NBC will broadcast highlight programs on August 13 (4-6 PM EST) and August 19 (4-6 P.M. EST). PAX will re-broadcast the programs on August 26 (9-11 PM EST and PST - check local listings).

The actual meet schedule will have 10 am and 7 PM sessions; The schedule of trials events can be viewed courtesy of the Indianapolis Sports Corporation. During the trials, you can get a live feed from the IU Natatorium scoreboard via the internet from Omega. This will work once the trials begin.

Who will be the big surprises of the meet? Who will feel the biggest disappointment? You will have to review the US Olympic Trials results; I can't forecast the future, but I have made some guesses - let all of us know what yours are! You can send good luck e-mail wishes to your favorite athlete or view their web page. I may not know which athletes will make the team, but I do know there will be some fantastic swimming over the next week. Who will our team face in Sydney? The rest of the best from around the world. Good luck athletes, GO USA, and Swim On!

More on the US Trials and the Olympics

2000 US Trials Results

U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials from USA Today

About Swimming Olympics Section

Trials Preview from SwimInfo

US Olympic Trials History

Olympic History

US Men's Bio's

US Women's Bio's