Life in a Day of the Preparation Camp
The Official Preparation Camp Headquarters for Team GB opened for ‘business’ on Monday 18th June.
This first day of Preparation Camp was in fact one of the busiest! The first athletes to pass through the Camp were the rowers.
Since then we have seen (nearly) all 541 athletes selected for Team GB come to Loughborough University to collect their kit, do media interviews and receive gifts from their sponsors.
And a lucky 19 teams even stayed here at Loughborough to train! With Medal Makers supporting them all the way.
We have had VIPs, Governmental, sporting legends and royalty come to visit us at Preparation Camp creating as much of a stir as the athletes themselves!
Team GB have very much felt like part of the family and the ubiquitous red trainers marked the Team GB and BOA staff, athletes and volunteers from miles away. Leaving looks of envy on people’s faces as they passed!
Not as envious as when people saw the Medal makers T-shirts however. The purple T-shirts of the Medal Makers have certainly left their mark and have been a useful tool in identifying Medal Maker volunteers from a distance!
The Medal Makers created quite a stir on the Olympic Torch Relay day when the sea of pink was the closing image of many of the news bulletins on the eve of the 3rd July.
The Camp was dismantled on the 6th August and all those who have been involved in the Preparation Camp are very sad to see Team GB leave campus.
However the Olympic fever continued with the opening of the Beckwith Clubhouse which has screened much of the Games live on its three screens.
All in all there were:
- 64 days of Preparation Camp;
- 541 Team GB athletes;
- 342 Medal Makers
- 11,642 volunteering hours.