The University of Warwick’s preparations for the London 2012 Olympic Games began far in advance, and Terry Monnington, Director of Sport, played a key role in setting up the University’s involvement with this summer’s Games.

Warwick’s role

Over 20 teams involved in the Olympic football matches being played at the City of Coventry Stadium are taking advantage of the training facilities at Warwick. The Bhutan Olympic team, of three athletes and three coaches trained on campus for four weeks, with an archer going on to qualify to compete in London. The University is also a training venue for a number of Paralympic wheel chair athletes from the UK and Ghana, and a final competition event took place in late July.

Warwick also hosted the Midlands ‘Games Maker’ volunteer recruitment event back in 2011, and a summer and winter sport event for employees of the major Olympic sponsors.

Terry has been working with colleagues across Coventry and Warwickshire since the London bid to host the Games was announced, establishing the University of Warwick as the hub for Olympic and Paralympic training venues in the region. "I’ve been jointly responsible for negotiations with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to agree the Cryfield sports complex as the Olympic football training venue" Terry said. "I’ve also been working with Olympic and Paralympic committees across the world, promoting the University as an ideal training camp venue."

Watching the Games

Terry’s looking forward to what he hopes will be the best Games ever, and will be attending both Olympic and Paralympic events as well as watching on TV. He said, "I applied for many tickets, but only managed to purchase Olympic tickets for the women’s volleyball! I’ll also be attending Olympic football matches at the City of Coventry stadium, and I’m pleased to have a number of tickets for the Paralympic Games."

Warwick’s sports facilities

Terry is very proud of the outstanding sports facilities Warwick has on offer to students, staff and the community. "It’s great to have the sports development activities and club programme that we do," Terry commented, "I’m proud of the scope and variety of our sporting links with organisations and individuals, both in the region and nationally."

"I’m still mad keen on playing sport myself" he concluded. "Volleyball, squash, basketball, badminton and finally, cricket, on the rare occasions it doesn’t rain!"