By Paul Osborne

San Juan Puerto Rico has been selected as USA Swimmings pre-Olympic training campNovember 3 - San Juan in Puerto Rico has been selected as the pre-Olympic training camp the United States swimming team for Rio 2016, it has been revealed. 


USA Swimming's national team director Frank Busch told the Olympic International Organising Committee (OIOC) that Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, had been chosen ahead of sites in Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil. 

Pre-Olympic training camps give athletes the opportunity to adapt to changing time zones and undergo final preparations before the start of the Games.

For the London 2012, the US swim team first camped in Knoxville, Tennessee, for pre-Olympic training, before travelling to Vichy, France to complete final preparations and adjust to the five hour time difference from America to England.

US swimmer Kristen Caverly at Mallorca training camp prior to Athens 2004 Olympic GamesUS swimmer Kristen Caverly at Mallorca training camp prior to Athens 2004 Olympic Games



This two-part training camp is seen regularly by USA Swimming, who camped in Palo Alto, California before travelling to Beijing to undergo final preparations in the build up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Palo Alto was also used in the 2004 Athens Olympics as a domestic training camp for the Americans before they made their way to a site in Mallorca, Spain.

This two-part training system would not be as necessary for the American team coming into Rio 2016 due to the minor time difference between the United States East Coast time and Rio de Janeiro of just one hour.

This is not to say that the option is ruled out and USA Swimming may opt to use the two-part training routine that has led them to major success at a number of Olympic Games.

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