Twickenham gears up for London 2012 (From Your Local Guardian)

We meet Richard Fisher, head of London 2012 Olympics preparations at St Mary's University College, Twickenham

7:00am Saturday 5th February 2011 in Richmond

There is little more than 500 days until London’s Olympics - and Twickenham is set to pay host to some of its stars. PAUL TEED reports.

With the London 2012 Olympics drawing closer, the sense of anticipation and excitement is growing on the campus of Twickenham’s St Mary’s University College.

As an official training camp, it is set to bring some of the finest international athletes to Richmond’s doorstep, along with an £8.5m state-of-the-art sports building - due to open to the public this summer - which will allow the borough’s sportsmen and women, along with families, community groups and clubs to lift the same weights, use the same running machines and play badminton on the same courts as the Olympians.

Students and staff at the Waldegrave Road university will also play their part in hosting the teams, rubbing shoulders with their special guests as they help them prepare for the greatest sporting event in the world.

Professor Richard Fisher, head of 2012 preparations and sport strategy at St Mary’s University, said he had almost closed a deal with the South Africans for them to bring about 70 athletes, coaches and physiotherapists to Twickenham.

They are likely to include their boxers, rowers, badminton players, cyclists and canoeists training at the Royal Canoe Club, in Trowlock Way, Teddington.

A delegation from the Irish team visited the campus on Tuesday and are currently considering sending about 35 members of their squad.

Prof Fisher, a former vice principal of St Mary’s University and member of the London 2012 Olympic bid, said he recognised the huge excitement the Olympic teams would generate in Richmond.

He said: “It is quite an exciting time, we have got lots going on.

“One of the things we will have to deal with is managing engagement with the community. People are interested and they want to meet the teams, but the teams are here to win medals.

“We will sort out options for community engagement. Some of the coaches can do coaching sessions for youngsters in the area, and we reckon we will have some sort of reception.”

He said St Mary’s University was an obvious choice for the Irish team. Middle-distance runner Sonia O'Sullivan, Ireland's most crowned sportswoman, used to train at the campus and lives nearby.

Prof Fisher, a former long-distance runner himself, said the university will offer everything a top athlete could hope for. Its athletics track, sports science facilities and accommodation will provide them with the perfect environment for their Olympic preparations.

The teams will get everything on the same site, including sports injury and rehabilitation clinics, an environment chamber, a bio-mechanics laboratory and a gym with lifting platforms and cardiovascular machines - all without having to travel off the campus.

Andrew Reid-Smith, director of sport at St Mary’s University, said: “Literally as the performer comes in they can run off the track and see a physiotherapist or a sports medicine doctor or be tested in the physiology laboratory, or they can look at their running gait in the bio-mechanics laboratory.

“They are all within 30 seconds of each other. In terms of services to improve performance, it’s all here on site. A lot of the services will be used by the local community and clubs, they are all available to a whole range of people out there.”

Most of the facilities will all be under one roof after the university refurbished its old 1960s sports hall and connected it to the new building, just a stone’s throw from the athletics track.

St Mary’s University has invested its own funds in the £8.5m project, taking out a bank loan to cover the costs, and has been helped by the Government’s project capital funding grant along with £500,000 from Sport England.

But Prof Fisher has no doubt about the benefits of the Olympic legacy in Richmond. It has already led to a huge drive to promote badminton in the borough, with a view to launching a club at the university.

Mr Reid-Smith agreed that the Olympic-standard facilities will be invaluable to the community and students.

The public will be able to enjoy a three court indoor tennis centre and a six court badminton centre with a performance sprung floor and state-of-the-art lighting.

Mr Reid-Smith said: “It is absolutely top notch.

“It’s all here for academic purposes and for the students and will be used by the Olympic teams, but also it’s available for use by the local community as soon as it’s open by the middle of the summer.

“We also run community programmes out of here with young school children.”

He showed the Irish delegation around the campus this week, and explained that before the Sydney Olympics, in 2000, the university did not even have proper changing rooms for its athletes.

Now, stars including Andrew Baddeley, Britain's top 1,500m runner and Olympic finalist in Beijing, and Mo Farah, currently the UK's finest distance runner of his generation, train at its endurance centre.

He said: “We have got the greatest concentration of endurance talents in Great Britain working directly out of here.”

For the athletes gunning for medals and world records at the London 2012 Olympic Games, they can be assured that St Mary’s University is doing everything it can to help them achieve their dreams.

To find out more about how to get involved in the Olympics visit london2012.com.