The Hungarian Swimming Federation will be putting a Japanese training facility to the test, with a 12-day camp happening this month in the Asian nation. Announced this week, 4 coaches and 12 swimmers (unnamed) will descend upon the Koriyama Shinkin Kaiseizan Pool, a 5,451.42 square meter facility that is situated about 130 miles from Tokyo and houses both a 50m and 25m pool. (Sankei.com)

The facility located in Koriyama City in the Fukushima Prefecture was just completed in July of 2017 with a price tag of approximately 4.3 billion Yen (~$37.8 million USD). The pool is approved by the Japanese Swimming Federation as a stadium to be used for official domestic competitions. If all goes well with the training camp at the Koriyama Shinkin Kaiseizan Pool, the idea is that Hungary would sign a formal agreement for an actual staging camp preceding the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Koriyama touts its proximity to the Tokyo Metro area and the convenience of its transportation infrastructure, which includes rail network and expressways. Additionally, the Prefecture is the starting point of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay symbolizing a memorial of sorts to those affected by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.

Hungary isn’t alone in pursuing its pre-Tokyo camp site, as the German Swimming Association (DSV) is cooperating with the city of Kumamoto (Japan), while the British Olympic Association (BOA) signed training venue contracts with 3 Japanese sports facilities, one of which is the Yokohama International Pool based in the city of Yokohama.

Translation assistance provided by Rebecca Nishikawa- Roy.