Sport Mad Milton Keynes Gears Up For London Olympics

11.58.47pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 15th Jul 2005

Milton Keynes will be pitching in to help ensure the brightest and the best make the trip to the Capital for the 2012 Olympics.

The new city is fast becoming 'sport central', boasting a variety of major facilities, including:

• The £100 million new stadium (the home of the MK Dons), due to be completed in 2006

• New facilities at Tattenhoe, Medbourne and Oakgrove, which include an astroturf pitch, pavilion, sports hall, fitness suite, tennis courts and grass pitches

• Redevelopment of Radcliffe School to include astroturf, sports hall and swimming pool

• The famous National Badminton Centre at Loughton Lodge, regularly visited by Olympic silver medallists Gail Emms and partner Nathan Robertson

• Redevelopment of Bletchley Leisure Centre

• Introduction of FANS (Free Access for National Sportspeople) scheme in Milton Keynes.

The British Olympic Association is also moving training facilities for Olympic sports such as volleyball, fencing and beach volleyball to Milton Keynes.

As well as a wide array of facilities, Milton Keynes also has a number of up-and-coming potential Olympians, including athletics stars Craig Pickering and Joey Duck, as well as badminton's Michelle Cheung.

All three are previous winners of Sport MK's Sports Achiever of the Year and both Joey and Michelle were runners-up for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Euan Henderson, cabinet member responsible for leisure and sports said: "We were all thrilled to hear the news of London's successful Olympic bid and we know that Milton Keynes can play a major part in this momentous and prestigious occasion.

"As well as our own home-grown sporting talent, Milton Keynes boasts a wide range of facilities which would be ideal for training the country's future Olympians.

"Work progresses daily on our stunning new stadium and there are other projects springing up all over the city.

"This gives us the very real chance of becoming a host city, to help other teams with their acclimatisation programme, including of course getting used to the UK weather."