London 2012 Paralympic legacy will see sports investment

The Olympic Park is to receive a £2millon investment to create 'Opportunities for everyone'...

16:48 05 September 2012

The Olympic Park organisation will invest around £2millon in various Paralympic legacy projects, which will look to include an annual festival of disabled sport.

 

The announcement, which came on Tuesday, relates to plans which it is understood will help create sports and business opportunities in east London.

 

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), desire the project to be linked to a programme of training, which will take place at sporting clubs in the Olympic Park area.

 

The LLDC hopes thousands of people will benefit from the Paralympic Legacy Programme which is being dubbed by many as 'Opportunities for everyone'.

 

According to the BBC, the programme will help create homes and accessible sporting venues. It is understood the Olympic Park will be renamed as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

 

Chief Executive Xavier Gonzalez, of the International Paralympic Committee, told the BBC: "By working with the operator of the venues on the Park now, [the LLDC] is ensuring that paralympic sports will continue to be at the heart of the sporting legacy."

 

The impact London 2012 has had on the whole seems to be a positive outcome.

 

"The Paralympics have captured our hearts and minds and the success of Paralympics GB provides us with new heroes to emulate," said London Mayor, Boris Johnson, as quoted by The Guardian.

 

"With the Olympic Park set to become London's newest neighbourhood, today's announcement shows how the new facilities, training and job opportunities, and sports events will be accessible and open to everyone long after the Games have left town."

 

The LLDC also have plans to introduce a range of sports for disabled people, which includes wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball.

 

With London 2012 soon coming to a close, as the Paralympics finishes on Sunday 9th September, the new Olympic Park looks set to re-open in the summer of 2013.