United Leeds Endeavours headed to the University of Leeds this weekend for a celebration of the city as it prepares to play host to the Chinese Olympic teams in July.
The 2012 Olympics are fast approaching and United Leeds Endeavours, a direct sales and marketing company based in the city centre, are becoming excited not only about the games themselves but that the city is playing host to over 300 athletes, coaches and support staff from the Chinese Olympic team. This weekend saw a celebration take place at the University of Leeds with Chinese and British sports stars, celebrities and community leaders
Among the stars of show this weekend were former Olympic diving gold medal winner Li Na and one of the rising starts of the Team GB diving team Liu Jiayi. Diving will be among the 11 sports that will be based in Leeds. Other teams include some of China’s strongest sports, fencing, table tennis, taekwondo, women’s handball and women’s hockey.
The show, entitled ‘China in Leeds’, was presented in both Mandarin and English and was an opportunity for athletes and coaches alike to fill in the public on their progress and training. United Leeds Endeavours believes that enticing the Chinese Olympic team to Leeds for their pre-games training is a real coup considering the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
A spokesperson for the United Leeds Endeavours commented, ‘The Chinese Olympic team are used to state-of-the-art facilities and are one of the best teams in the world. The fact that they have chosen Leeds as their training base is testament to the incredible facilities and culture of sport that we have in the city.”
Back in summer 2011 when the announcement was made, Leeds council leader Keith Wakefield said, “This is a historic and magnificent achievement for Leeds to have secured arguably the biggest Olympic sporting superpower to base themselves in our city ahead of the London 2012.”
United Leeds Endeavours believes that there is a great sense of pride amongst the residents of Leeds that they will be hosting such a prestigious team. “We know that everyone in the city will be bending over backwards to make our visitors feel welcome. Everyone at United Leeds Endeavours is keeping their fingers crossed that there will be open training sessions that we can go and watch.
The Chinese team is due to arrive in Leeds at the beginning of July.
