By Will Baxley on SwimSwam
The closure of the U.S. Olympic Training Center to foreign athletes in 2028 may throw a wrench into the training plans of many multinational training groups as they prep for LA 2028.
Belgian and Dutch swimmers, however, will be unphased by the USOTC news. That’s because they’ve taken to a “secret” altitude center in Colombia’s Andes mountains for the upcoming quad.
Belgian journalist Marc Vermeiren reported on how top swimmers from the low countries – including Roos Vanotterdijk, Caspar Corbeau, and Florine Gaspard – trained in Bogotá’s exclusive Club Campestre Los Arrayanes prior to the North American World Cup stops this year.
Pieterjan Vangerven, the director of the Flemish Swimming Federation, says the parties involved were intentionally secretive about the choice until the plan came to fruition.
“We wanted to be able to claim that place before other countries or other sports,” Vangerven said.
The training group’s head coach, Mark Faber, expressed concerns about the scarcity of altitude pool availability leading up to the Olympics. He said this before the announcement of the USOTC closing itself off to foreign athletes in 2028, which would surely exacerbate this concern.
Faber’s commitment to Los Arrayanes abated his scarcity concerns for his swimmers. The Belgian and Dutch group plans to travel to Bogotá twice per year from now on. Colombia’s capital and largest city, Bogotá sits at 2,600 meters (8,600 feet) above sea level. This is higher than Europe’s top centers, and according to Faber, requires roughly the same total cost as an in-continent camp when accounting for the extra travel.
The group is following the lead of Dutch cyclists, who also recently chose the mountains of Colombia as their altitude training location. Word of Los Arrayanes’ robust swimming resources came from a Lithuanian ex-swimmer who lives in Bogotá.
The squad’s maiden voyage to the Andes seems to have gone well. Following the camp, Corbeau would go on to become the first man sub-2:00 in the SC 200 breaststroke. Vanotterdijk, meanwhile, podiumed eight times across the three World Cup stops.
Colombia has been gaining traction in the international aquatics scene. The country will host its first ever World Cup stop this upcoming year in artistic swimming.
Quotes in this article are translated from Dutch.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Low Countries Up High: Belgium & the Netherlands’ Secret Andean Altitude Training
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