ON YOUR MARKS! BEDFORD BOROUGH TO HOST TEAMS FROM AROUND THE WORLD AHEAD OF LONDON 2012!
Bedford Borough will host 15 Olympic and Paralympic teams and more than 250 sports people from around the world in the lead up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.
This means, that with the exception of Weymouth, which will host most nations for the various sailing competitions, Bedford Borough will host more teams than any other town or borough in the country.
Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said: "Bedford Borough has a superb sporting pedigree, excellent facilities and a vibrant sense of community, all of which helped make it a very easy decision for many teams to base themselves here.
"The summer of 2012 looks set to be an exciting time in the borough, with the Kite Festival, Diamond Jubilee celebrations, River Festival, the Olympic Torch relay and the Olympic 'Live Site' at the Athletics Stadium. It is great news that so many athletes from around the world will also be joining us to experience this superb summer."
The teams will start to arrive from the 15th of June. The nations which have agreed to be based in Bedford Borough are:
· The Maldives National Olympic Committee
· Central African Republic National Paralympic Committee
· Senegal National Paralympic Committee
· The Gambia National Paralympic Committee
· Morocco National Paralympic Committee
· Ivory Coast National Paralympic Committee
· Tunisia National Paralympic Committee
· Lesotho National Paralympic Committee
· Democratic Republic of CongoNational Paralympic Committee
· Uganda National Paralympic Committee
· Niger National Paralympic Committee
· Ghana National Paralympic Committee
· Pakistan National Paralympic Committee
· Angola National Paralympic Committee
· Jamaica National Paralympic Committee
There will be over 250 athletes and officials living in Bedford over the summer, ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
Howard Darbon, Coordinator, Pre Games Training Camps for BOOST, added: "BOOST was created to maximise the benefits which Bedford Borough and the county as a whole could reap from the Olympic and Paralympic Games and attracting nations to base themselves here was a major part of that.
"There will be many ways for local residents to get involved with the Games during the summer and we look forward to working with local residents in the coming weeks and months."