Four sports venues in Leeds have today been named as potential pre-Games training venues for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
The facilities at John Charles Centre for Sport, Leeds Metropolitan University, University of Leeds and the Middleton Equestrian Centre all feature in a national list of over 160 venues announced today to host athletes from all over the world in advance of the 2012 Games.
The details of the venues will appear in an online Pre-Games Training Camp Guide which will be launched by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) at this summer’s Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games. The finest athletes from nations across the globe will then be able to choose where they wish to train and prepare for London 2012.
Venues were invited to apply to for inclusion in the guide in 2007. An assessment process has since been carried out by LOCOG to finalise the list of suitable facilities that meet the technical sporting criteria and also the accessibility and support service requirements for hosting a Paralympic team.
The venues included in the guide have been selected mainly on their ability to host a range of Paralympic sports in international-standard training facilities.
Today’s announcement follows on from the similar training camp list for the 2012 Olympic Games which was revealed in March and included six venues from Leeds in the form of John Charles Centre for Sport, Rothwell Leisure Centre, Leeds Metropolitan University Sports Centre, University of Leeds Campus Sports Centre, Headingley Carnegie Stadium and The Grammar School at Leeds.
The John Charles Centre for Sport is managed by Leeds City Council, and the council’s
Executive Member for Leisure Councillor John Procter said:
"We are delighted that council and university facilities along with Middleton Equestrian Centre are to be included in the 2012 Paralympic Games Training Camp Guide. Their inclusion, along with the six Leeds venues already accepted for Olympic sports, merely underlines how as a city Leeds now boasts some of the best sports training facilities to be found anywhere in the world.
"Attracting some of the world’s finest athletes to Leeds would be fantastic in terms of inspiring young people to get involved in sport, so we would be delighted to welcome athletes for both the Olympics and the Paralympics as they prepare to take part."
Martin Havenhand, executive chair of the Yorkshire Committee for the 2012 Games, said:
"I’m delighted that once again the Yorkshire and Humber region’s sports facilities have been selected to appear in the London 2012 Pre-games Training Camps Guide, giving us the opportunity to showcase them to Paralympic teams across the world.
"Sport continues to be one of our region’s great strengths and is central to the Yorkshire Gold strategy. Attracting teams to the region is not only important for sport, but will have real benefits for business, tourism, our communities and culture.
"The London 2012 Games present a wonderful opportunity to secure a lasting legacy for the region."
Leeds table tennis Paralympian medallist Cathy Mitton said:
"The purpose of the pre-Games training camp is to allow athletes to recover from their journey and acclimatise to the conditions so they can prepare, both mentally and physically, for the Paralympics.
"The best camps are those with a relaxed, friendly atmosphere and access to first-class training facilities and, perhaps I am a little biased, but that is exactly what Leeds has to offer."
The breakdown of sports for the Leeds venues selected as potential training camp venues for the 2012 Paralympic Games is as follows:
John Charles Centre for Sport:
Paralympic athletics, Boccia, Paralympic judo, Paralympic swimming, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair tennis.
University of Leeds Campus Sports Centre:
Boccia, goalball, Paralympic table tennis, volleyball (sitting), wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby.
Leeds Metropolitan University Sports Centre:
Paralympic athletics, Boccia, five and seven-a-side football, goalball, Paralympic judo, Paralympic powerlifting, Paralympic table tennis, volleyball (sitting), wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis.
Middleton Equestrian Centre:
Paralympic equestrian.