Following the conclusion of the 2015 School Games in Manchester, it was announced that Loughborough University had been selected as the host city for the 2016 School Games.
Loughborough University is the first higher education institute to host a School Games, and the single campus site will offer an athlete experience similar to that experienced in an Olympic or Paralympic village.
In 2012 the University was the Official Preparation Camp Headquarters for Team GB prior to the London Olympic Games. Over 520 members of Team GB passed through the campus to collect their kit, whilst several sports used Loughborough’s world class sporting facilities as a base for their pre-Games training camp.
The campus also boasts the country’s largest concentration of world-class training facilities, encompassing an array of sports including an indoor and outdoor athletics centre, a 50m swimming pool, an international standard water-based hockey pitch and a recently renovated indoor tennis centre.
This extensive range of sports facilities allows Loughborough to accommodate the majority of School Games sports in their dedicated sport specific venues. The ultimate goal for the 2016 event is to create an Olympic-style environment that holistically combines all Games services on the University campus.
The East Midlands site is also home to a number of National Governing Bodies, including British Athletics, British Swimming, British Triathlon, and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
International Reputation
Loughborough also has an outstanding reputation and unparalleled record of excellence in sport, with the university stating that sport is within its DNA. It’s students have won the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) title for 33 consecutive years, a remarkable feat.
Amongst Loughborough University’s alumni are some of the most celebrated names in sport around the world. Double Olympic champion Lord Sebastian Coe, marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe MBE, 11-time Paralympic champion Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Rugby World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward are just four athletes to have studied and played sport at Loughborough. Around 250 elite level athletes are currently studying or training at the University
At the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 90 athletes with Loughborough connections competed, winning a total of thirteen medals.
If Loughborough was a country at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the university would have finished 11th on the medal table! Over 120 athletes from Loughborough represented 8 countries, across 10 sports in Glasgow, winning 35 medals; 13 bronze, 13 silver and 9 gold – – a truly inspirational environment for the 2016 School Games athletes to compete amongst.
Sports Venue Information
The 2016 School Games will be held in sport specific venues across the Loughborough University campus.
For more information on sport at Loughborough please visit: www.loughboroughsport.com
Lord Coe running for Loughborough University Loughborough Campus Map