Model of Olympic Training Center, Planned for Chula Vista, Is Displayed

Olympic silver medalist Jeanne Collier Sitzberger chipped a tooth diving in a shallow pool during training.

“To practice diving during the winter, we would have to drive overnight from Southern California to a pool in Arizona,” said the 1964 Olympian.

Bill Toomey, a 29-year old high school teacher when he won his 1968 gold medal in the decathlon, trained for track and field events without proper facilities.

“If a high school teacher can train himself to become a gold medalist, just think of what our athletes can achieve now with world class training centers available,” said Toomey, now 51.

Toomey came a step closer to seeing a dream turn into reality with the unveiling Thursday of a full-scale model of the United States Olympic Training Center/San Diego.

The $59-million training facility will open in 1992 on 150 acres on the shores of the Lower Otay Reservoir in Chula Vista, according to Toomey, now a corporate fund-raiser for the San Diego National Sports Foundation. The nonprofit foundation was established in 1987 to raise money for the facility.

The center, the country’s first warm weather, year-round training center, will be the third operated by the United States Olympic Committee. The Olympic Committee also operates training centers at its headquarters in Colorado Springs and Lake Placid, N.Y.

The Olympic Committee “is excited about the prospect of the new Olympic Training Center in San Diego because we finally have a state-of-the-art facility in California where a huge number of our 1992 Olympic team members currently live,” said Robert L. Helmick, president of the committee.

“In the past, California has on several occasions provided as many as one-third of the members of our summer Olympic teams.”

The first phase will give particular emphasis to Olympic sports not fully served at existing training centers, including archery, track and field, canoe-kayaking, cycling, field hockey, soccer, and water polo.

To support these sports, the complex will house a sports medicine and testing facility, a boat house and a 2,000-meter regatta course, a 50-meter pool, residence for more than 300 athletes and a visitor’s center, Olympic officials say.

The focal point of the visitor’s center will be the open-air “Court of Champions” for ceremonies and small presentations. A large tile map of the United States will be inlaid with medallions, one for every Olympic medalist from each state.

Planning for the athletic complex was begun in 1987 by the San Diego National Sports Foundation. The nonprofit fund-raising group, headed by former San Diego Councilwoman Gloria McColl, has raised $39 million toward its $59-million goal, foundation officials said.