UK Sport announced the most ambitious host events programme in the build up to 2012 in the history of the Games today.
With Saturday marking 1,000 days until London hosts the Olympics, it was revealed that 20 towns and cities across the UK aim to host at least one major international sporting event on average every two weeks.
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It is an opportunity to see British & International stars in 30 different Olympic & Paralympic sports before 2012 and will create over 13,000 official and volunteer opportunities.
UK Sport CEO, John Steele, said: “We believe this is the most comprehensive programme of major events leading into a Games that any host country has ever put together.
“It will provide British athletes with the opportunity to perform in front of a home crowd and the public with a chance to experience world class sporting action in their local area.”
UK Sport, the agency responsible for bringing world class events to the UK, confirmed 64 events will be allocated across the UK before the opening ceremony, beginning today with the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester.
Alongside Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham, the events will also see towns such as Dorchester, Hereford & Largs represented, providing the opportunity for British athletes to compete in world class events on home soil.
Over 17,000 international competitors will take part in the events, providing the British public an opportunity to catch a glimpse of current and potential Olympic and Paralympic champions.
The £32 million project, of which the UK Sport Lottery Funded World Class Events Programme has already donated £11m, sees the 64 events cover 30 Olympic and Paralympic sports.
Of these, 25 are already confirmed, with organisers aiming to agree the remaining 39 in the near future. So far, 19 world class events have successfully been delivered this year.
Seb Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, said: “UK Sport’s support in staging world-level events that help train and develop the UK’s technical officials ahead of 2012 is a vital part of the preparations for making sure that we hold a first class Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.
“We always hoped that hosting the Games would leave a legacy of more world- class events happening in this country, and it’s great to see this is happening.”
For more information on UK Sport and the World Class Events Programme, visit www.uksport.gov.uk/pages/world_class_events/
Nick Grounds, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
