The Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center is an aquatic facility in

Federal Way Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 census. Federal Way is the tenth-largest city in Washington and the fifth-larges ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

constructed for the

1990 Goodwill Games The 1990 Goodwill Games was the second edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held between July 20 and August 5, 1990. Following an inaugural edition in Moscow, the second games took place in Seattle, United ...

. It has hosted US Olympic Diving Team Trials in 2000 and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

championships,

PAC-12 conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

championships,

USA Swimming USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is charged with selecting the United States Olympic Swimming team and any other teams that officially represent the United States, as well as the overal ...

Winter National championships and

Speedo Speedo International Limited is a distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories based in Nottingham, England, known for its swim briefs. The company has roots in Australia but is no longer based there. Founded in Sydney in 1914 by Al ...

Junior National championships. Over 200 world records have been set at the center. The center is open to the public for open swim, pool exercise, family swim, lessons and lap swim.

History

On April 18, 1990 the facility opened for general use. It was constructed to host the 1990 Goodwill Games, which were held in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. Land for the center's development was donated by the Weyerhauser corporation and the facility was named after the company and its Chairman, George Weyerhaeuser. The Seattle Goodwill Games Committee provided $5 million and King County issued an $8.8 million bond to fund the facility.

Operations

Facilities

Swimming, synchronized swimming, diving and water polo are accommodated by the technical features of the center. It is one of only a few of its kind in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Center facilities include: * 9–10.5 feet deep Olympic-sized competition and training pool (competition natatorium) * 25 x 17 yard, 17 feet deep diving well equipped for

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

and

springboard A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type. Springboards are commonly fixed by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and ...

diving (competition natatorium) * 25 x 15 yard recreational pool with

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

cove features and theme (recreation pool) * Banquet hall seating for 245 people banquet-style and 400 people theater-style (banquet hall) For the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the center started serving as a COVID-19 testing site open to the public in October 2020."Two more new COVID-19 testing sites in south King County"
''kingcounty.gov''. October 5, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2022. The center has an annual economic impact of $7.5 million USD.

Closures

During the COVID-19 pandemic the center temporarily closed for several months, from March to September 2020, to accommodate best practices and prevent the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

.Race, Retta (July 25, 2020)
"Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center Closed Until September 21st"
''

SwimSwam ''SwimSwam'' news is a swimming news organization covering competitive swimming along with diving, water polo and synchronized swimming. SwimSwam launched as a website in March 2012 and quickly became the most-read swimming website in the world. ...

''. Retrieved November 22, 2021. In November 2021, non-essential personnel and spectators were officially allowed back in to attend sporting events."WIAA: Fans will be allowed at State Swim and Dive Championships"
''Eli Sports Network''. November 4, 2021. Retrieved November 22, 2021. From August 1 to mid-September 2022 and for the summer of 2023, the center is temporarily closed to use by the public for facility upgrades following its turning 30 years of age."Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center closes for upgrades"
''Federal Way Mirror''. August 3, 2022. Retrieved November 7, 2022.

Events held at the center

As well as the Goodwill Games for which the center was constructed, each year the facility hosts high profile events. These have included Olympic Team Trials in diving, NCAA championships, PAC-12 conference championships, USA Swimming senior events and Speedo Junior Nationals. One way the center serves the community that funded its construction, the residents of

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

, as well as Washington state residents at large, is through hosting events such as high school state swimming and diving championships.Graham, Jeff (November 9, 2021)
"Bainbridge in contention for girls swim/dive state title"
''

Kitsap Sun The ''Kitsap Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Bremerton, Washington, United States. It covers general news and serves Kitsap, Jefferson, and Mason counties on the west side of Puget Sound. It has a circulation of about 30,000 while reac ...

''. Retrieved November 22, 2021.Drowley, Doug (November 13, 2021)
"Tahoma uses its depth to exceed expectations and win 4A state swimming and diving championship"
''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...

''. Retrieved November 22, 2021."Prep swimming: Selah places in seven events in 2A-1A state finals"
''

Yakima Herald-Republic The ''Yakima Herald-Republic'' is a newspaper published in Yakima, Washington, and distributed throughout Yakima, Kittitas and Klickitat counties as well as northwest Benton County. It is Washington state's seventh-largest daily newspaper. The ne ...

''. November 13, 2021. Retrieved November 22, 2021.

Recognition

In December 2015 ''

Swimming World ''Swimming World'' is a US-based monthly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'', (known ...

'' published a feature on King County Aquatic Center, highlighting eleven reasons it found the center to be "awesome" including playing a pivotal role in the swimming careers of notable Olympians

Nathan Adrian Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian (born December 7, 1988) is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event. In his Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer O ...

(the only swimmer to make the list from

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...

Missy Franklin Melissa Franklin Johnson (born May 10, 1995) is an American former competition swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist. She formerly held the world record in the 200-meter backstroke (long course). As a member of the U.S. national swim team ...

Cullen Jones Cullen Andrew Jones (born February 29, 1984) is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist who specializes in Freestyle swimming, freestyle sprint events. As part of the American team, he holds the List of world records in ...

Simone Manuel ] Simone Ashley Manuel (born August 2, 1996) is an American professional Swimming (sport), swimmer specializing in freestyle events. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she won two gold and two silver medals: gold in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4x1 ...

, and

Haley Anderson Haley Danita Anderson (born November 20, 1991) is an American competitive swimmer who is an Olympic silver medalist. She placed second in the 10-kilometer open water event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Personal Anderson's older sister, Alyssa ...

.Marsteller, Jason; Kroll, Chuck (December 8, 2015)
"11 Reasons Seattle, King County Aquatic Center Are Awesome"
''

''. Retrieved November 22, 2021.

Gallery

Some of the venue facilities include the following. File:King County Aquatic Center main entrance - 23 November 2022.jpg, Main entrance and COVID-19 test site signage File:King County Aquatic Center bleacher area - 23 November 2022.jpg, Bleacher seating in the competition natatorium File:King County Aquatic Center competition pool and timing system - 23 November 2022.jpg, Competition pool with timing system File:King County Aquatic Center diving tower and well - 23 November 2022.jpg, Diving well and tower

References

External links

Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center official website
{{Coord, 47.295366, -122.343318, display=title Sports venues in Seattle Swimming venues in the United States Sports venues completed in 1990 Sports venues in Washington (state) 1990 establishments in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in King County, Washington Federal Way, Washington 1990 Goodwill Games venues