As the whole country celebrates Team GB's biggest medal haul for over 100 years, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson in conjunction with the British Olympic Association and the British Paralympic Association confirmed today that the British athletes competing in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are to be honoured with a parade through the streets of the capital.
Called Our Greatest Team and bringing together TeamGB and ParalympicsGB athletes, the parade will take place on Monday 10 September. It is set to begin at Mansion House in the City of London and finish in central London. More details about route and timings will be announced in due course.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: 'The men and women competing in this year's Games are role models for our times, underlining the virtues of aspiration, hard work and commitment. Team GB's medal haul has been outstanding and we can expect another magnificent showing during the Paralympic Games. The parade is our way of recognising the supreme achievements of Our Greatest Team, which I hope will inspire youngsters in London and up and down the country to take up sport, whether for fun, or with the ambition of competing at the highest level.'
Andy Hunt, Team GB Chef de Mission and Chief Executive of the British Olympic Association, said: 'The London 2012 Olympic Games have been a record breaking success for Team GB. There have been so many inspirational performances from the 541 athletes who have represented Team GB with pride and excellence across the 26 Olympic sports. Together as One Team GB, we have achieved our ambition of winning more medals from more sports than we have done in over a century – a truly historic achievement. This unprecedented success was helped by the huge impact of the passionate vocal support of the home crowd, who encouraged Team GB's athletes to achieve their personal best in the venues. The parade of Our Greatest Team on September 10th will provide an opportunity for the nation to recognise and celebrate the special achievements of this unique group of athletes, and importantly, for the members of Team GB to show their appreciation and gratitude for the inspirational support they have received from the Great British public throughout the London 2012 Games.'
Tim Hollingsworth, Chief Executive of the British Paralympic Association, said: 'The iconic images from the 2008 parade were a fitting finale to the outstanding performances of Team GB and ParalympicsGB. Fast forward four years to London and Team GB have already surpassed that with an effort that has captured and enthralled the nation. It's our turn now to show the nation what we can do on home soil. If we also achieve our target of more medals across more sports then the 2012 parade will be a fantastic tribute to Our Greatest Team and a fitting end to a wonderful summer of sport.
'ParalympicsGB has a great track-record when it comes to the Paralympic Games and we look forward to showing the nation and the world what we can do in 17 days time.'
The Our Greatest Team parade is being organised by the Mayor of London, BOA and BPA, with the support of BA, BP, BT, Camelot and Visa. It is being delivered with a range of partners, including the City of London, Westminster City Council, Metropolitan Police, Transport for London and The Royal Parks. More details will be announced shortly.
Notes to editors
The Mayor of London is supporting a huge programme of free events and cultural activities to add to the excitement of 2012. Working with outstanding international artists and world-class cultural organisations this unprecedented Mayor of London Presents programme is taking place in every corner of the capital to add to and complement the London 2012 Festival. As well as Parade: Our Greatest Team, it includes Secrets: Hidden London, with artists and performers transforming hidden and lesser known locations; Showtime, the largest outdoor arts festival ever seen in the capital, with dozens of electrifying artists from the UK and abroad coming to every borough, in high streets, parks and town centres; BT London Live, bringing live action from the Games, as well as sporting activities and entertainment to Hyde Park, Victoria Park and Trafalgar Square; and Surprises bringing pop-up performances and once in a lifetime experiences to locations familiar and unusual, above your heads and atop landmark buildings. For more information about this Summer Like No Other, go to www.molpresents.com / www.facebook.com/mayoroflondonpresents / www.twitter.com/molpresents
British Olympic Association
The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Its mission is to transform British lives through the power of the Olympic values and the success of Team GB. The BOA's role is to prepare the 'Best of British' athletes for, and lead them at, the summer, winter and youth Olympic Games. The BOA delivers extensive support services to Britain’s Olympic athletes and their National Governing Bodies to enhance Olympic success and is responsible for championing the Olympic values and brand in the UK. The BOA receives no funding from the lottery or government, has no political interests and is completely dependent upon fundraising income to achieve its mission. The BOA is the strong, independent voice for British Olympic Sport.
Team GB website: www.teamgb.com
Team GB Twitter: www.twitter.com/TeamGB
Team GB Facebook: www.facebook.com/TeamGB
National Lottery and Exchequer funding is invested by UK Sport through its 'no compromise' approach to targeting medal success in successive Olympic Games. For the London cycle, The National Lottery has contributed the majority of the investment in Olympic Sports - £152.1million out of the total of just under £265million. In fact, almost nine out of ten (88 per cent) Team GB athletes selected for London 2012 Olympic Games have benefitted from National Lottery funding at some point in their career.
ParalympicsGB
ParalympicsGB is the name for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Paralympic Team that competes at the summer and winter Paralympic Games. The Team is selected and managed by the British Paralympic Association, in conjunction with the national governing bodies, and is made up of the best sportsmen and women who compete in the 20 summer and 4 winter sports on the Paralympic Programme.
There is only one Paralympic team from Great Britain and Northern Ireland; ParalympicsGB. There is not a Paralympic swimming team or Paralympic tennis team. The individual sports join to become ParalympicsGB, the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Paralympic Team.
We are proud of our tradition of outstanding performance at the Paralympic Games: ParalympicsGB has finished second in the medals table at the last three summer Paralympic Games and brought 102 medals home from Beijing, 42 of them gold.
With the next summer Games on home soil, the BPA is exploring every possible option that might have a positive impact on the performance of British athletes in London enabling them to achieve their personal best when it matters most. We recognise that the British team’s performance will have an impact on changing perceptions of disability sport and influencing attitudes towards disability.
The BPA would like to thank: our partners adidas, Atos Origin, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, Coca Cola, Dow, EDF Energy, GE, Lloyds TSB, Omega, Sainsbury’s, Samsung and VISA; our supporters Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Deloitte, Cisco Systems, UPS and Thomas Cook; our suppliers and providers Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, G4S, GlaxoSmithKline, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, Mondo, McCann Worldgroup, Nature Valley, Next, Nielsen, Otto Bock, Populous, Rapiscan, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield.
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