Lucy Johnson found that Long Beach, California had more Olympic medalists in aquatic sports than any other city in America. Her research was instrumental in helping establish the Aquatic Capital of America (www.theaquaticcapital.org), a non-profit entity to promote aquatic sports and waterproof its youngest generations.

At its annual awards banquet last night with many Olympic athletes, coaches, officials, and volunteers in attendance, the excitement about the City of Long Beach hosting 11 LA28 events (Beach Volleyball at Alamitos Beach, Coastal Rowing and Open Water Swimming along the Long Beach waterfront, Sport Climbing, Target Shooting, Artistic Swimming, and Water Polo at the Convention Center, Handball at the Long Beach Arena, Canoe-Sprint and Rowing at Marine Stadium, and Sailing at Belmont Shore) was palpable.

For a complete list of confirmed venues for LA28, visit here.

The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Games are scheduled from July 14th to July 30th and the 2028 Paralympic Games will take place August 15th through August 27th. 

It is interesting to note that LA28 has officially designated the formerly named Olympic 10K Marathon Swim as Open Water Swimming in its most recent communications and website (see here).

Test Event for the Test Event

In preparation for the 10 km Open Water Swimming event in LA28, the City of Long Beach will host a test event in July 2026. This event will be a test event for the official 10 km Open Water Swimming test event in July 2027 in preparation for the LA28 Games.

The test event for the test event will have several events (1 km, 5 km, 10 km) and will be held on the same site as the LA28 10 km Open Water Swim. It will be open to all national team swimmers, professional marathon swimmers, and masters swimmers and age group swimmers of all ages and abilities.

2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

It will be interesting to learn where the 10 km event will be held at the 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships that are hosted in Irvine, California between August 12th and 15th. The 10 km open water swimming venue has not been announced by the host team USA Swimming.

Water Quality Measurements

The City of Long Beach measures the water quality on its 11 kilometers of public beach and bays that attract many thousands of residents and visitors throughout the year.  Water samples are collected and tested to monitor bacterial levels that will soon be made available in real time. In the illustration below, the proposed LA28 Olympic 10K Marathon Swim will be conducted within or very near the two City monitoring stations (B-5 and B-56) that are shown on the left side of this map (near the marina).

There are 4 possible conditions:

• OPEN: Bacterial levels are within State standards. There are no restrictions on water contact activity.
• ADVISORY: Bacterial levels are outside of State Standards. Contact with water may cause illness and should be avoided.
• RAIN ADVISORY: Bacterial levels rise significantly during and after rainstorms. Contact with water should be avoided for a period of 72 hours after rainfall ends.
• CLOSED: Significant risk to health. Avoid any contact with the water until further notice.

For more information from LA28, visit here.

For more information on the City of Long Beach water quality, visit here.

© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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A World Open Water Swimming Federation project.