A United Nations of athletes heading to Bath this summer
A ‘United Nations’ of athletes from more than a dozen nations will prepare for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games at the University of Bath.
The University of Bath has some of the best sports facilities in the country on one site – and athletes from four continents will flock to Bath to make use of those facilities as they fine-tune their preparations for the biggest sporting show on earth.
Athletes from Great Britain, China, Russia and Malaysia are already confirmed as training at the University of Bath Sports Training Village ahead of London 2012.
Iceland’s Olympic athletics team have today joined the list of teams committing to train at the University, along with the Olympic athletics and swimming teams from the United Arab Emirates.
Swimmers, boxers and track & field athletes from St Vincent and the Grenadines will train in Bath ahead of the Olympics, while Denmark’s Paralympic swimmers will train at the University ahead of the Paralympic Games.
Athletes from Libya’s Paralympic team are also expected to train at the Sports Training Village this summer.
And athletes from Barbados, Cyprus, Egypt, Ghana, Lithuania and the Republic of Ireland have also trained at the University ahead of 2012.
With the vast majority of University students away for the summer at the time of the training camps and with camps happening at different times throughout the summer, it is anticipated that there will be minimal impact on regular customers who use the facilities in the pre-Olympic period.
Assisting British athletes who train full-time at the University to hone their preparations for 2012 will also continue to be a very high priority in the coming months.
Stephen Baddeley, Director of Sport at the University of Bath, said: “It’s fantastic that we’ll have so many athletes from so many different countries training at the University of Bath ahead of London 2012.
“It will be a veritable United Nations at the Sports Training Village and it’s with great pride that we’ll welcome these teams to the University of Bath.
“We also continue to place ahigh priority on supporting the British athletes who train at the University.”
The benefit of having a compact campus at Claverton Down has been a major plus with many teams choosing to stay in accommodation and eat on campus.
The City of Bath also has a reputation as one of the most spectacular, beautiful and vibrant cities in the country, that is rich in Roman and Georgian heritage and surrounded by lovely countryside.
ParalympicsGB announced its selection of the University of Bath to host its preparation camps in the lead-up to 2012 three years ago. More than 200 team members from 10 sports will attend the camp in August before transferring to the Games Village.
Malaysia have been using the University as a regular training base ahead of large European tournaments since 2010 and will return to Bath ahead of the Olympics.
Last month it was announced that 25 of China’s top swimmers would train at the University this summer ahead of the Olympics, and last week a 30-strong group of Russia’s top track and field athletes were named as the latest group heading for Bath ahead of theOlympics.
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The University of Bath is The Sunday Times University of the Year 2011/12.
