Three million reasons why 2012 could benefit cities of Yorkshire

From being the home to international training camps to a key route of the torch relay – the legacy of a ‘home’ Olympics has repercussions beyond the capital city.

As well as the 10 international squads and five British squads that will warm up for competition in the Games here in the Broad Acres, more than 200 Yorkshire companies have won contracts to work on the construction of the Olympic Park and the Games delivery programme.

The knock-on effect of that is more jobs, and more money on top of the camps windfall, coming into the region.

There remains over £450m of LOCOG contracts for Yorkshire businesses to bid for.

Already the region has provided timber to build the Olympic Park from Sheffield’s Arnold Laver and greenscape turf for the Olympic Stadium from County Turf in Scunthorpe.

Financially, the legacy is growing.

What the camps bring is the chance to interact with sporting stars, learn from them and use that knowledge beyond the Games.

Having top athletes within touching distance, particularly for children, can be inspirational.

Already utilising the splendid facilities on offer in Yorkshire is a handful of British squads.

The British divers are based at Ponds Forge, while the table tennis team, boxers and volleyball squads are also housed in Sheffield, at the English Institute of Sport. And the country’s weightlifters are based in Leeds.

To have the facilities to house our Olympic medal hopefuls here in Yorkshire is a real boon.

As is the ability to entice other countries to bring their teams to the county and base their preparations for what will be the biggest show on earth.

Yorkshire Gold, the Olympic arm of tourism board Welcome to Yorkshire, has worked alongside local authorities to bring international athletes to the county.

Each camp is set to net in the region of £250,000 – including a grant of £25,000 from LOCOG – with athletes, officials, administrators ploughing money into the facilities, hotels and restaurants on the numerous occasions they come here to visit, acclimatise and train in the run up to the Olympics.

Already announced is the entire Serbian Olympic team, 150-200 or so athletes who will be split between Leeds and Sheffield.

The Chinese track and field team, including 2004 Olympic 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang, will train at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Ponds Forge will also be home to the United States diving team while the Netherlands swimming team is to be based in Leeds, to train at the John Charles Centre for Aquatics.

As well as staying in West Yorkshire during the early weeks of next July before heading down to London, the Dutch are also planning on holding a training camp in Leeds in early September.

The Brazilian Judo team are to train at the English Institute of Sport and the entire delegation of athletes and staff from Guinea-Bissau and Gambia will host pre-Games camps in York.

On the verge of being announced are three more camps, with Bradford getting in on the act.

The delegations from Tanzania and Vietnam will use facilities at the University of Bradford and Bradford College, while the local authority is also in negotiations to bring the Georgian, Romanian and Kazakhstani Olympic teams to the city.

Bradford’s Olympic co-ordinator Ron Todd said: “What we did was target the nations that are strong in contact sports; boxing, judo, wrestling.

“There’s a strong boxing community in Bradford and last year the university held the powerlifting world championships. In partnership with Leeds and Sheffield and through Yorkshire Gold, we’ve been able to secure these teams.

“The Tanzanian track team love it here, because they get to train on the Yorkshire hills.

“Bradford College and the University of Bradford have spent £11m on new sports facilities in recent years and there will be a fantastic new £250,000 boxing facility built in the city for the Olympics. For us in Bradford it’s about building long term sports and education partnerships with international communities.

“We want to get primary schools going down and watching these teams train and enjoying themselves. It’s all part of Britain’s Olympic legacy.”

Leeds University is also closing in on agreeing terms to house the Canadian wheelchair rugby team for the Paralympics which run from August 29 to September 9, 2012.

Coinciding with the Olympic Torch Relay coming through Leeds on Sunday, June 24, it is the latest announcement of a burgeoning programme of events in the city.

Peter Smith, Leeds Council’s Olympic project manager, said: “Is the city over the moon about the Olympics? Probably not right now, but we are moving the momentum forward.

“The cultural events, the activities around the torch relay etc, shows there is a clear momentum. And that momentum is being helped by the Leeds-based athletes who are all doing well. The Brownlee brothers are in the London triathlon on August 7, the City of Leeds diving club has six people at the world championships in Shanghai, and Claire Cashmore is doing well in the Paralympic swimming.

“The success they are having is helping to raise awareness of the Olympics.”

The City of York has focussed its efforts on attracting smaller West African countries but has already seen a benefit of the Olympic legacy with approval of the construction of a new athletics track and international swimming pool at York University.

Tania Weston, Olympic delivery officer for North Yorkshire County Council, said: “We have had to have a slightly different approach to Leeds and Sheffield, in that we don’t have the facilities to attract the big teams.

“A lot of the developments we are making have been planned for a while and there won’t be any big cost deficits. As well as the economic benefit, we hope to change perspectives. York is an historic town but we want it to be thought of as offering more than that.”

As well as the up close and personal feel of watching Olympians train for the biggest moment of their lives at the 49 approved venues in sports-mad Yorkshire, the torch relay is also a huge, symbolic moment of any Games. The visit to Leeds on June 24 is one of five days in which the torch burns brightly through the region. It lights a path through Hull on Monday, June 18; York the following day, and then Sheffield on Monday, June 25; and Cleethorpes 24 hours later.

How Yorkshire is getting involved

Leeds

British weightlifting team;

Entire Serbian Olympic delegation including swimmer Milorad Cavic;

Chinese track and field team including Liu Xiang;

Netherlands swimming team.

Sheffield

British boxing team including Yorkshire’s Nicola Adams;

British table tennis, volleyball and diving squads;

United States diving squad including Troy Dumais;

Brazilian judo team.

York

Entire delegations from Guinea-Bissau and Gambia.

Bradford

Vietnamese and Tazmanian Olympic teams, with more expected.