Greensboro Aquatic Center Bid For 2025, 2027 World Championships Withdrawn

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Photo Courtesy: Sarah D. Davis/theACC.com

The Greensboro Aquatic Center USA Bid Committee, operating as the North Carolina World Organizing Committee, announced that it will not be submitting a bid for the 2025/2027 FINA World Championships & FINA World Masters Championships.

Greensboro had been one of six cities, and the only U.S. city, that submitted a Letter of Intent to FINA and attended the FINA Bid Information Meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, in January of this year. Other cities or countries attending the Bid Meeting were Belgrade, Serbia; Budapest, Hungary; Kazan, Russia; Kiev, Ukraine; and China.

“Encouraged by USA Swimming, our largest aquatics sport governing body in the U.S., we are going to take a walk-before-you-run approach to international aquatics championships,” said Hill Carrow, Chairman of the Greensboro USA Bid Committee. “Instead of jumping into competitive international aquatics events head-first with the largest aquatics competition on the planet, we intend instead to start out with more modest-sized international events and work our way up. Some of the events we are now considering include FINA World Cup, FINA World Junior Championships, FINA Champions Swim Series, and UANA (Pan American) Masters Swimming Championships, among others.”

The FINA World Championships, which are held every other year in the odd year, feature over 2,300 of the world’s elite athletes competing in six disciplines – Artistic Swimming, Diving, High Dive, Open Water Swimming, Swimming, and Water Polo – and have never been held in the United States. The most recent FINA World Championships & FINA Masters World Championships were held in 2017 in Budapest, Hungary, and this year’s Championships will be hosted by Gwangju, South Korea.

“It is certainly disappointing,” said Carrow, “as a significant amount of time and effort has gone into the United States bid. The fact that the event has never been held in our country presented a unique opportunity, and if ever the time was right to bring this event to the U.S. it would be during the run-up to the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. The Worlds are not an inexpensive event, but during the next nine years there is going to be more money flowing into Olympic Sports in our country than any time in history – as evidenced by Nike’s reported commitment of an estimated $200 million to become the first domestic sponsor of the LA Games!”

Also in favor of a bid from Greensboro Aquatic Center was the ideal layout of the sports competitions, athlete village, and headquarters hotel. Five – Artistic Swimming, Diving, High Dive, Swimming, and Water Polo – of the six sports, plus Opening and Closing Ceremonies, could be accommodated on the campus of the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, one of the largest and most active sports & entertainment complexes in the country.

With the Athlete Village 5 minutes east on Gate City Boulevard at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and the Headquarters Hotel, the Sheraton Greensboro – North Carolina’s largest hotel, only 5 minutes south along the same street, the Greensboro Venue Plan made for one of the most convenient Championship configurations for athletes, coaches, officials, and spectators. Even the Open Water competition, planned for Oak Hollow Lake, would be a mere 20 minutes from the other events.

With its participation in the World Championships bid process to date, the Greensboro USA Bid Committee has been able to develop relationships with the FINA Executive Director, Cornel Marculescu; FINA executive staff; and FINA Board members. Though Greensboro and the United States are going to miss out on the opportunity to host the FINA World Championships & the FINA World Masters Championships for the foreseeable future, thanks to those relationships the city is able to begin its foray into international aquatics events right away by hosting the 2019 FINA Artistic Swimming (Synchronized Swimming) World Series at the Greensboro Aquatic Center next month, May 24-26, 2019.

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— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Greensboro Aquatic Center. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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