Sport.Cardiff has hosted a spectacular sporting event to mark the official one year countdown to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
More than 3500 visitors attended the free event at Roald Dahl PlasS, Cardiff Bay and helped celebrate what will be an exciting lead up to the greatest sporting event on earth.
The event was attended by special guests including members of the Australian, Great Britain and South African Parlaympic teams.
It showcased the sporting opportunities on offer as Cardiff gears up to be a host city for the games.
Cardiff City Football Club (CCFC), Cardiff Devils, Glamorgan Cricket and Welsh Athletics were among the city’s key partners who helped the Sport.Cardiff team deliver a jam-packed programme of events throughout the day.
Visitors had free access to a wide range of sporting activities such as athletics, cricket, dance, football, golf, ice hockey, netball and rowing.
There were basketball matches, street dance demonstrations and the chance to kick a goal on the CCFC inflatable pitch.
The event also gave people the chance to find out how they can become an accredited volunteer and learn about opportunities to assist local clubs and sports groups.
Sport.Cardiff is proud to be the first local authority to be accredited with the London 2012 ‘inspire mark’ for the inspirational ‘Sport.Cardiff Volunteer Project’.
Coaches and volunteers play a crucial part in supporting the involvement of children and young people in sport. Sport.Cardiff operates a Coach and Volunteer Accreditation scheme for those working on our activities to ensure the highest standards of coaching and volunteering exist across the city.
Sports volunteering can cover a range of activities from coaching, player development, running training sessions through to club administration, fundraising and organising events, competitions and leagues.
The Inspire programme features a mix of projects from communities across the UK. It recognises exciting and innovative projects inspired by London 2012, one of these being ours to recruit, train, deploy, retain and reward committed volunteers throughout the city. These volunteers will inspire others to participate in sport and provide the essential workforce to sustain sports participation.
Executive Member for Sport, Leisure and Culture, Cllr Nigel Howells said: “Yesterday’s event marked an exciting countdown until what will be a fantastic international sporting spectacle as well as showcasing the excellent sports provision for children we have established here in Cardiff.
“We are thrilled to have so many incredible and talented sports people choose our city as their pre-games training camp and we are confident they will enjoy their time here in Cardiff as much as we will enjoy hosting them.
“Cardiff is proud to be hosting the first event of the Games at the Millennium Stadium and we expect an international audience to have all eyes on our city, cementing our place on the world sporting stage.”
