Want to walk in the footsteps of some of America’s greatest athletes? Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Kyle Snyder, Sarah Hildebrandt and Apolo Ohno have all lived or trained at the Colorado Springs Olympic and Paralympic Training Center (CSOPTC).
The world-class training venue is home to Team USA’s best athletes who live and train there year-round, and it’s open to the public to come and see Olympic and Paralympic dreams in the making. The training center is open all year, welcoming Springs locals and visitors from afar.
“This training center belongs to the community, and we want to share that,” says Mike Beagley, Associate Director of Visitor Center Operations at the CSOPTC. “We want people to come in and go on tours and see the athlete experience of Team USA.”
Team Spirit in Olympic City USA
As Olympic City USA, Colorado Springs is home to the CSOPTC as well as the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum (USOPM), the Colorado Springs Velodrome, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) headquarters and more than 25 sport national governing bodies (NGBs). The two largest attractions for visitors are the museum and training center, and the best way to explore them both is with a Podium Package, which provides discounted admission to both venues. Visiting them both is like turning the prism of the Olympic and Paralympic experience.
The USOPM allows you to take as deep a dive as you’d like into the history, context and legacies of the Games. The Olympic and Paralympic Training Center walks you through the real-time experience of Team USA’s heroes of today and tomorrow.
“We have gold medalists on-site right now, and we have future gold medalists training on-site right now,” Beagley says. “When you come here, you’re going to experience Team USA. These are active athletes working to make a podium at Olympic and Paralympic Games. I like to say the training center is how you get your story told at the museum.”
Most likely, you’re going to see those athletes when you tour the CSOPTC, although there’s no guarantee. About 15,000 athletes come through the training center each year, and the venue houses up to 300 athletes at a time. Some are full-time residents. Others may be there for shorter camps, team tryouts or various individual training or treatment sessions.
Inside the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center Tour
Visitor Center hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tours leave on the hour, and tickets are sold first come, first served. If you have more than 10 people, it’s best to email to arrange a group reservation.
When you arrive, you will gather in a large atrium where you can watch highlights or live competitions from the Games on large screens in the round. Or you can explore interactive kiosks filled with Team USA information.
Your tour guide may be an Olympic history buff or a Team USA athlete, such as McClain Hermes, a paralympic swimmer and paratriathlete who competed in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Your first stop is the Ted Stevens Sports Services Center, named for the Alaska senator who wrote the Amateur Sports Act that established the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1978. The state-of-the-art facility features specific areas for strength and conditioning, sports medicine and sport sciences.
The Strength and Conditioning Center is an impressive sight. The 30,000-square-foot gym houses 10 tons of free weights and an armada of resistance and cardio machines. It’s a great spot to see athletes doing strength and resistance work or speed training on the 60-meter track — or even lifting massive 400-pound truck tires.
Next, you’ll walk through the Sports Medicine Center and the Sport Sciences Center, designed to help athletes reach their peak performance through sport dietetics, technology, physiology and psychology. There’s a large kitchen where nutritionists teach athletes how to eat and prepare optimal foods specific to their needs. And in the High Altitude Training Center, trainers can adjust humidity, temperature and air pressure to mimic the climate conditions anywhere in the world, like the site of the next Games. Michael Phelps was known to take naps here between training sessions with the more oxygen-rich temperature and pressure settings of sea level to aid in faster recovery.
Next up are the pair of Sports Centers that house basketball courts, a gymnastics center, boxing venue, judo training area and a large wrestling gym. These are great spots to see some sparring among athletes.
In the Olympic Shooting Center you can see Olympic and Paralympic athletes fine-tuning their aim. This is one of the largest indoor shooting facility in the Western Hemisphere and the third largest in the world.
And finally you’ll get a view inside the Aquatics Center where the nation’s finest swimmers, artistic swimmers, pentathletes, triathletes and water polo players are trained and tested. But the pool is also used for cross-training by other athletes, so along with swimming, you may see some unique training happening.
You’ll find lots of scenic spots for taking pictures as you walk among the training venues. And you’ll finish your tour back in the visitor center. Be sure to stop by the gift shop before you leave to pick up your favorite styles of Team USA wear and accessories. Just like your tour, it’s another great way to support the dreams and propel Team USA to more legendary moments at the Olympics and Paralympics.
Whether you live in Colorado Springs or you’re visiting, put the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center on your itinerary for an exciting way to connect with the exceptional athletes of Team USA.
Find all the details to plan your visit at teamusa.com
