Gateshead has been chosen as a potential major training venue for athletes competing at the London 2012 Olympics by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.
The next gold medal winning Olympic athletes could be making their preparations for possibly the biggest moment of their life in Gateshead with the announcement that an Olympic training camp could be based at Gateshead Council's Gateshead International Stadium and Gateshead Leisure Centre.
Top athletes competing to win Olympic gold in athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, fencing, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling could be training in Gateshead.
The chosen venues, including those in Gateshead, are now included in the LOCOG's official London 2012 Pre-Games Training Camp Guide which will be handed out to the 203 National Olympic Committees and 161 National Paralympic Committees at the Beijing Olympic Games this summer.
The LOCOG decision to recommend Gateshead to top international athletes is a ringing endorsement of the top class facilities on offer at the Gateshead International Stadium – the committee chose the venues with the highest technical specifications in the country for training camps.
Gateshead Council cabinet member for culture Cllr Linda Green said: "This is a fantastic day for Gateshead, our investment in top quality facilities for sports has really paid dividends. Over the years since 1955 the Gateshead International Stadium has progressed from a cinder track to a top quality, high tech facility complete with some of the best facilities in the country.
"I look forward to welcoming international athletes to Gateshead, I'm sure they will receive a warm welcome to Tyneside and will see just how passionate people in the North East are for sport.
"We are in the early stages of a £25m upgrade of our leisure facilities and we fully expect that this will be completed in time to welcome 2012 Olympians, an upgrade for Gateshead Leisure Centre is one of the options being considered."
The latest phase of development at the Gateshead International Stadium was opened in 2006 by former Olympic athlete Lord Coe. The two-storey new development comprises an 82 metre athletics training hall with six lane sprints straight, jumps and throws facilities, facilities for sports science, sports medicine, strength and conditioning activity, consulting rooms, classrooms and staff support areas and a fitness room. There is also an outdoor floodlit athletics throws area, three outdoor sports pitches including two floodlit artificial turf pitches.
The centre is already the regional hub site for the English Institute of Sport in the North East. A multi-disciplinary team of EIS support staff delivers a range of sports science and sports medicine services to the region's top athletes, from a state of the art support centre.
Services on offer to athletes include sports medicine consultations, physiotherapy, physiology, performance analysis, nutrition advice, sports psychology and Performance Lifestyle.
The announcement that Gateshead's inclusion in the Training Camp Guide comes on top of the return of the Norwich Union British Grand Prix Athletics to Gateshead in 2008. The event which takes place just seven days after the Beijing Olympics is likely to see medal winning Olympians in Gateshead this year. The Gateshead International Cross Country Races also made a return to the calendar in 2007 to add to Gateshead International Stadium's growing reputation as a centre of excellence for athletics.
Experts predict that the London 2012 Games could bring a multi-million pound boost to businesses in Gateshead and the North East.
Judith Rasmussen, Regional Director Sport England North East, said: "Gateshead's inclusion in the Pre-Games Training Camp Guide is testament to Gateshead's commitment to the delivery of top class sporting events and activities. Their continued support to sport at the highest level along with other facilities included in the Guide will hopefully provide an attractive package to encourage a competing nation to base themselves in the North East prior to the Games in London."