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If you're looking for something sports-related this weekend, and you don't care much for the first-place Dodgers playing the Astros, LAist recommends that you head on down to Long Beach for the US Olympic Swim Trials.
The city of Long Beach with its rich aquatics history is going all out by building two enormous portable pools in a downtown parking lot (pictured left). The trials are just part of the ongoing Long Beach Aquatics Festival, showcasing everything from water polo to synchronized swimming. The city is hoping the events will revitalize Long Beach, making it the aquatics capital of the US, thereby drumming up support for a permanent state-of-the-art facility.
"The nation," says Steve Goodling, president of the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, "is going to rediscover Long Beach again. We will be ready."
We don't know about that, but if you want to see Michael Phelps, Jenny Thompson, and America's other great swimmers qualify for Athens, Long Beach is the place to be. You can check out the Queen Mary too.
