As a sweltering heat grips Southern California, swimmers enjoyed what may be the last summer at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center before it shuts down for renovations ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics.
The popular Pasadena pool was bustling with swimmers escaping from the heat while they still can. The public space offers swimming lessons, aquatic exercise classes and a place to cool off with recreational swimming.
“We provide them with swim lessons, suits, goggles, towels, just everything and anything that they need in order to be successful in their journey to learn how to swim,” Karen Meza-Cortez of the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center said of their students.
More than 400,000 visitors use the aquatic center each year but soon enough, that will change.
The pool will close to the public next April to prepare for the LA28 Games.
“The springboard, the three-meter boards on the end, they’ll need to be redone and have three,” Melanie Sauer, the executive director of the center, said. “That’s part of the Olympic standard that we have to, that they’ll achieve. And then the dive tower.”
While the upgrades take place, the pool’s programs will continue in locations that have yet to be determined.
“We’re talking with high schools and colleges to try and relocate all of our programming,” Sauer said. “About 50 pools in total, we’ve been in contact so far.”
It’s unclear when those finalizations will be announced. For more information on the pool’s adjustments for the Olympics, click here.