London 2012 Olympic Legacy
Sport St Mary’s enjoyed a rich and fulfilling London 2012 experience. Prior to London bidding for the Games we were already supporting development of elite runners. This commitment and many others ran right through to the last Olympic team leaving our campus and meant that St Mary’s played a full part in the greatest show on earth.
Having engaged so much, we are already experiencing the benefits of sporting legacy:
- Most tangible is the development of our fantastic new sports centre (above) adding to the Sports Village on the main campus. The Games provided the focus and the planning to deliver world-class facilities that the athletes used and will be used by students, staff and local community for many years to come
- Increased participation particularly in young people. The range of sports on the SIMMSport programme has been expanded to meet demand and local youngsters are emulating and sometimes getting to meet the athletes they cheered on
- A new badminton programme that provides opportunities for recreational players and a new club, the St Mary’s Badminton Club, for those that wish to play competitively
- The formation of Special Olympics Richmond in partnership with Richmond upon Thames College to provide physical activity opportunities for people of all ages with learning difficulties
- Development of the local running community and support of talented athletes who are now working towards competing at Rio 2016
A strong foundation for legacy has already been established and in addition to sporting gains St Mary’s is benefitting from improved international links some of which will lead to Rio. We are commitment to continuing to deliver legacy initiatives.