Video: Town celebrates Olympic coup
THE news that Bury St Edmunds will be hosting the Rwandan Olympic Team in 2012 was celebrated yesterday.
THE news that Bury St Edmunds will be hosting the Rwandan Olympic Team in 2012 was celebrated yesterday.
Pupils from King Edward's School joined town leaders and members of the welcoming committee on the track at the West Suffolk Athletics Arena yesterday where athletes from the African nation will train.
Pat Warby, mayor of St Edmundsbury, said: “It was clearly the enthusiasm and pride that was shown by everyone when the Olympic officials from Rwanda visited in June that secured this.”
One of those was taxi driver Glenn Edwards, who ferried the Rwandan contingent from the train station to destinations in and around the town.
Mr Edwards, who runs First Stop Travel in Bury, said: “It was great to be involved and we took them all over the place to get a feel for Bury. They were clearly impressed and their return can only be a great boost for the town.”
One of the town's top athletes, Brian Alldis, 23, who is ranked 12th in the world in both the wheelchair 1500m and 5000m events, said the news had given an extra boost to his training and would undoubtedly have an affect across the town.
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Mr Alldis, who represented Great Britain in Beijing and was a member of the welcoming committee, said: “It's absolutely brilliant news to have a team coming here. We now need to capitalise on this by forming a long-term relationship between ourselves and Rwanda.”
