COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The United States Olympic Committee's 1982 National Sports Festival, featuring 3,000 athletes competing in 32 events, will be held in Indianapolis, Ind., executive director F. Don Miller said Sunday.
The USOC's House of Delegates is holding its Quadrennial meeting and approved the Indianapolis site based by a staff recommendation.
Philadelphia and Colorado Springs, Colo., also made bids.
'We were extremely fortunate to have such strong candidate cities and I hope that we will have the opportunity to have the National Sports Festival in Philadelphia at some time in the future,' said Miller.
Colorado Springs hosted the 1978 and 1979 Festivals and Syracuse, N.Y., will host the 1981 Festival. The event is held in non-Olympic years and is a showcase for amateur athletes with aspirations of Olympic competition.
Philadelphia bid on the Festival as a part of the city's 300th birthday. The events in Indianapolis will extend over eight days starting July 23. Miller said the USOC was highly impressed with the facilities available.
The Indiana Sports Corp. was the prime mover in landing the National Sports Festival and Indianapolis recently completed work on a tennis center and will have world class aquatics, track and field facilities by 1982, Miller said.
'We were tremendously impressed with the facilities and the enthusiasm for the Festival which exists in Indianapolis,' Miller said. 'That city is making a major commitment to amateur athletics.'
The 1979 National Sports Festival drew 135,000 spectators to Colorado Springs and the famed 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, which won a gold medal at Lake Placid, N.Y., was selected from the four-team field at the 1979 Festival.
