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SW reveals 2012 Training Camps


11 March 2008

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Facilities selected for London 2012's Pre-Games Training Camp Guide for Paralympic sports

Beijing Launch for South West Pre Games Training Camps
Sixty venues from across South West England were announced in Beijing by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games at a Reception for senior representatives of National Olympic Committees (NOC). The London 2012 Pre Games Training Camp Guide showcases the UKs venues. South West venues are well represented across the seven counties and Guy Lavender, South West England Director for the 2012 Games and Ged Roddy, the representative for South West England on the London Organising Committees Nations and Regions Group, are in Beijing to showcase the venues and continue to build relationships for the sole purpose of persuading leading nations to base themselves in the South West during the run up to the London 2012 Games. Download Press Release. Download The South West England: Pre-Games Training Camp Guide (pdf- 40.86kb) for a list of venues.

Olympic Solidarity Fund

A record number of sporting facilities across every part of the UK feature in the London Organising Committee (Locog) Pre-Games Training Camp Guide. In the South West, 60 venues are included, covering all sports to feature during the 2012 Olympic Games.

Guy Lavender, South West director for the 2012 Games, said: "We are delighted so many venues in our region are included in the Guide. As the host for the 2012 sailing, the Guide gives us another excellent opportunity to showcase the wealth of facilities in the South West and continue to meet our legacy aims for the region from 2012."

This assessment process has amounted to an audit of high-quality facilities throughout the UK and has shown that there are many excellent sporting facilities available.

Over 600 facilities will appear in the Guide, to be published at the Beijing Games. It contains high-quality elite sporting facilities right across the UK which will give teams and individual athletes a great selection of venues from which they can choose to prepare for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Guide will be circulated to all National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and National Paralympic Committees (NPCs). These organisations will then decide where they base themselves or where to send individual athletes to prepare and acclimatise for London 2012.

Extensive details of the facilities will appear on a dedicated website showcasing the quality and variety of options throughout the UK which will help NOCs/NPCs decide where to train. The national tourism agency, VisitBritain, is developing this new website with LOCOG and will bring its experience of marketing destinations and tourism products to international audiences.

The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is also able to offer a financial award of up to £25,000 to NOCs/NPCs to help encourage teams to base themselves in the UK. LOCOG has an allocation from its privately raised budget for this process and believes this will be an incentive for NOCs / NPCs to base themselves in the UK.

Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee, commented: "We said that we wanted the London Games to be for athletes, and the facilities listed in this Guide will really help overseas athletes prepare well. It also provides a great opportunity for towns throughout the UK to get involved in our plans. The process we have been through shows a great spread of high quality facilities throughout the UK that can be used by elite level athletes. The new website will continue to be an asset to keep an up-to-date log of the elite facilities we have across the UK."

Facilities in the Guide range from well-known major sporting hubs, universities and independent schools, community facilities, and sport specific clubs. A full list of the South West facilities that appear in the Guide is attached. They were assessed against strict technical criteria such as the ability to offer high quality sports training facilities, experience of hosting elite teams, comfortable but affordable accommodation, the ability to offer appropriate catering, good transport links, access to a good hospital, and good sports science facilities.

Facilities that appear in the Guide will now market their facilities directly to NOCs and NPCs. There will be workshops organised to give guidance on this.

Note to Editors

1. The list of regional facilities is available at 2012 pre-Games training camps. Facilities were invited to apply in July 2006. The assessment process was carried out during 2007.

LOCOG's Sports Department has worked closely with its Nation and Region Network in assessing the facilities that appear in the Guide using set criteria. These criteria included meeting the sport specific technical criteria set by sports governing bodies (such as the requirement of a 50 metre pool for swimming, water based pitches for hockey and international standard grass courts for tennis). Other criteria include a secure environment, good support services such as the provision of physiotherapists, massage, sport science; an ability to provide suitable hospitality arrangements - including accommodation and catering, organisational capacity including any experience in hosting teams and events, and good transport links.

2. Training Camps History

Pre Games Training Camps were introduced in Atlanta in 1996 mainly to assist the African NOCs, through encouraging many different communities around Atlanta to provide training facilities, sports assistance, housing and sports medicine. The idea was to help teams acclimatise for hot conditions. Sydney established a nationwide Pre Games Training Programme with hundreds of communities offering to host camps. 80 NOCs and 40 NPCs took advantage of these sites across Australia with the African NOCs joining forces in Adelaide, the GB team on the Gold Coast of Queensland and the USA in Bankstown in the suburbs of Sydney. Athens also offered a large variety of Greek destinations, but the general response was not as high as Sydney, because Athens is in Europe. Many NOCs/NPCs chose to use training sites in different countries within Europe and acclimatisation was not seen as so much of an issue. The British team used Cyprus. In Beijing, sites have been offered, and at this stage it is difficult to know what the take up rate will be. There have been bookings made in neighbouring countries/territories such as Macau, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan.

3. Benefits of Hosting the Camps

Hosting a visiting team can provide many opportunities. Obviously a visiting team can provide a boost to the local economy in terms of bringing in spending power. There could be opportunities to do cultural exchanges and make twinning arrangements and establish permanent sporting links. It is an educational opportunity for young people that can be developed. In keeping with 2012's pledge to inspire a new generation, we see the PGTCs as a good chance for young people to be inspired by having the chance to see elite athlete's on a daily basis and to learn from the examples set by the Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

4. Financial Awards

This programme is being developed with the IOC and in partnership with their Olympic Solidarity programme which supports NOCs from smaller developing countries. NOCs/NPCs will be eligible to receive an award if they arrange a training camp hosting a team from an overseas NOC/NPC. The award is designed to cover direct costs incurred at the camp including venue hire, accommodation, local transport, medical services and security. All agreements to host teams will be arranged directly between the NOC/NPC and the facility. It is likely to be available to teams from 2010. The award can be claimed for a multi-sport or single sport camp and can be spread across more than one facility. LOCOG will fund these awards from its privately raised budget.

5. Paralympic Training Camps

At previous Paralympic Games there have been a limited number of National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) that have organised Pre-Games Training Camps. However as the NPCs are also entitled to apply for the £25k financial award we believe that this could generate significant interest in the build up to the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Working with Paralympic sporting experts we plan to create a separate Pre-Games Training Camp Guide for NPCs, which will contain a smaller number of facilities that can provide multi-sport venues and can meet the stringent infrastructure and accessibility requirements to host an NPC.

LOCOG is delighted that many of the facilities that have applied to host NOCs have also applied to host NPCs, but because of the additional due diligence that we are carrying out on the ancillary services, with the help of regional experts in Paralympic sport, the review process has taken slightly longer. Facilities that applied to host National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) will be informed of the final selection decision for the NPC Guide over the next two months.

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100 or visit the website at www.london2012.com. Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog http://blog.london2012.com

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