Event Detail : 15 September 2009

2012 Olympics

Tim Jones, Chair of Team Devon, gave the forum a comprehensive and interesting talk on the potential impact of the 2012 Olympics on Devon.

Mr Jones began by explaining that Devon already has some great things to offer in terms of Olympic events, citing the presence of Paralympics' marathon champion, Sarah Pearcy, in Exeter for example. It was stated that Devon also had a number of sporting facilities that could be used in the Olympics, for example St Luke's campus and Kelly's college.

The forum was told that key to Team Devon's work had been various locations in Devon seeking qualification for enrolment as Olympic training camps. Devon had been successful in securing 16 camps, while neither Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset had come close to achieving this figure. Mr Jones said that Plymouth, Torquay and Exeter had put in a great deal of work to achieve this success.

The next stage following qualification of the training camps was for each camp to try and attract national teams and an example of this was how the Kenyan national team would be training in Bristol, primarily on-the-back of having an established relationship with the city. Mr Jones explained how the training camps in Devon were currently working on how to make themselves attractive to the Olympic teams.

Team Devon felt that the registration of the training camps provided Devon with a good opportunity to display some of the best points that the county has to offer, for example the world class motivational training camps at Lympstone. Mr Jones also discussed the possibility of publicising the county's cultural and sporting history.

Mr Jones explained that the Olympics presented great opportunities for local businesses to provide contract services, with approximately 1,000 business having been accepted as suitable to bid for a basket of contract work.