PARTICIPATION
Activ8
Activ8 is a social marketing campaign aimed at raising awareness among primary school aged children of the importance of taking part in at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day and of eating a healthy and balanced diet.
It is a London 2012 ‘Inspire Mark’ programme - recognised by the London 2012 Organising Committee as being: accessible, participative, inspiring, and stimulating increased participation in grass roots sport.
To date 100,000 children across Northern Ireland have taken part.
For more information visit the Activ8 website.
Active Communities
Active Communities, another London 2012 Inspire Mark accredited programme from Sport Northern Ireland, is a £13.5 million investment over five years employing and training a network of full-time and part-time sports coaches to deliver activities in community and club setting across Northern Ireland. This will provide a further 100,000 participants with the opportunity to take part in sport and physical recreation.
Torch Relay
Northern Ireland will also see the Olympic Torch Relay in June 2012 when it visits Belfast, Newry, Londonderry, and Portrush. It will involve over 600 inspirational torch bearers from Northern Ireland who will help shape the Olympic Torch relay and play a key role in marking the start of the Olympic Games an incredible opportunity.
For an exciting fly-through of the full Torch Relay route, visit: http://www.london2012.com/videos/2011/olympic-torch-relay-route-animation.php
Pre-Games
Sport Northern Ireland has worked extensively in conjunction with many governing bodies, local councils and sporting venues during the last two years to encourage key stakeholders to attract and secure athletes and teams who will train or qualify for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London this year.
Ten teams have now confirmed their intention to base their Pre-Games Training Camps in Northern Ireland:
- The Chinese Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics Team will train at Salto Gymnastics Centre in Lisburn.
- The Cuban Boxing Team and Australian Boxing Team will train at Queen’s University Belfast and accredited boxing venues in Belfast and Banbridge.
- Paralympics Ireland and The Paralympic Council of Jordan will be based at the Antrim Forum.
- Quatar, Egypt, Kuwait and Sudan will base their Athletics Pre-Games Training Camp at the Antrim Forum also.
Sport Northern Ireland has also supported several Pre-Games Training Events in 2012. These include:
- The Indonesian Olympic Badminton Team Training Event;
- A Table Tennis Training Tournament; and,
- The International Wheelchair Basketball Pre-Games Training Tournament.
In addition to this, two Olympic/Paralympic Qualifying Events have already taken place in the North:
- The Boccia World Cup - a Paralympics Qualifying Event which hosted more than 200 participants from 33 countries
- The Yonex Irish International Badminton Championships - an Olympic Qualifying event which involved 244 athletes, coaches and officials from 37 countries.
A third Olympic Qualifying Event will take place on Sunday 13th May, the Celtic Chrono Elite Women's Cycling Time Trial. It is anticipated that 55 of the world’s leading female cyclists will take part to gain valuable points to qualify for the Olympic Games.
As part of this event, there is also ‘The Big Bike 2012’, which is a 22 mile leisure cycle, which takes place after the time trial and follows the same route as the Olympic hopefuls.
PEFORMANCE
SINI exists as a world class elite athlete development centre to assist in the delivery of the high performance strategy for local athletes.
SINI is supporting athletes to prepare for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games by putting the right systems and structures in place.
Sport Northern Ireland also provide three Performer Development Centres which exist to identify and work with young, up and coming talent.
