Everyone involved with San Antonio Sports will always remember the year 1993. In May, the Alamodome opened and San Antonio was awarded the 1998 NCAA Men’s Final Four in early July. Just 15 days later, the Alamodome made its national sports debut when it hosted the U.S. Olympic Festival-’93.
The event that San Antonio leaders had so heavily pursued was finally taking place. The torch, which traveled more than 4,000 miles and passed through the hands of athletes, local leaders and aspiring children alike, entered the dome on July 23 to an opening ceremony crowd of more than 62,000. The cauldron was lit, and the ten-day festivities began.
In 1991, the previous iteration of the U.S. Olympic Festival had been awarded to Los Angeles in a move that sparked flames in the hearts of San Antonians. It was only then, when the Alamo City got its shot, it showed out. With new, state-of-the-art venues in the Alamodome and the Palo Alto Natatorium, 3,500 athletes competed for the USA in 37 sports throughout San Antonio. Olympians and future Olympians competed in everything from kayaking to fencing, swimming to figure skating. In fact, the Alamodome still holds the world record for the largest crowd for a figure skating competition – 25,691 set on July 25, 1993.
San Antonio welcomed the Festival with open arms, with 19,000 volunteers and the whole city working together to give the event a home. When the show was over on August 1, it was clear to the sporting world that San Antonio was no longer just a city that had potential to become a sports haven. San Antonians were going to make it happen, and now they had the Festival to prove it. The tone was set, and over the next three decades, San Antonio has continued to show why the Olympic Festival was no fluke.