British Olympic Team to Train in Macau

Written on December 2, 2007 by admin

Britain’s training camp ahead of next year’s Olympic Games in Beijing will be based in Macau, the British Olympic Association (BOA) announced Wednesday.The former Portuguese territory, which borders China, had sports facilities built for the 2005 East Asian Games.

Its relative proximity to Beijing means it enjoys a similar climate and is in the same time zone as the Chinese capital.

Most of the British team are likely to spend several weeks in Macau in the run-up to the Games but the specific demands of certain sports mean that they will have training camps in other parts of Asia such as Hong Kong and Japan.

Simon Clegg, the BOA chief executive, said: “Today’s (Wednesday’s) announcement builds on the BOA’s experience of hosting preparation camps.

“It embraces both the athletes’ needs, providing top-quality training facilities in a safe and secure environment and enhances the BOA’s aspiration to create a Team GB ethos.”

Beijing itself will be the pre-Olympic base for Britain’s canoeists while swimmers on the team will prepare for the Games in the Japanese city of Osaka and those competing in equestrian events in Hong Kong.