Mayor of London Boris Johnson today declared London the home of sport as he attended the home of rugby at Twickenham for the six nations clash between England and Wales.
The Mayor will join thousands of fans for the sell-out fixture and one of the biggest matches in the rugby calendar to cheer on England. The match concludes a great month for sport in the capital and follows on the back of the hugely successful cycling and diving test events at the Velodrome and the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park over the last week when the world witnessed the enormous appetite there is in London for top class sport.
The test events mark the beginning of a momentous decade for major sporting events coming to the capital. Ahead of the curtain rising on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in July the world can look forward to some of the classic and world famous sporting championships and challenges being hosted in the capital.
April sees the historic boat race on the river Thames between Oxford and Cambridge Universities followed by The London Marathon. May marks the end of the British football season with the FA Cup Final at Wembley and in June the world’s finest sports men and women begin arriving in London for the Summer Games, the Queen’s Tennis Championships and the greatest tennis tournament on the planet at Wimbledon. London also gets a taste of top flight American football as the hugely popular NFL football league returns to Wembley in the autumn.
2012 is just the beginning for London as it firmly establishes itself as the home of sport. Just a year after the Games the doors of the Olympic Park will once again be thrown open to welcome the world to the Mayor’s world class two-day Festival of Cycling. Two years later, Twickenham will be one of the key stadiums for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and then the Olympic Stadium is set to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships when the world’s finest track and field athletes return to the capital.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “London already has a wonderful sporting history, from the first time the Boat Race came to Putney in 1836 right up to the now-traditional sights of sports fans cheering on our heroes on Wimbledon’s Henman Hill.
“And looking to the future, with top flight competitions bringing athletes from around the globe to the capital for years to come, it’s impossible to think of another city that could beat London to the title of the world’s official home of sport.
“These competitions not only cement for the capital a major legacy of jobs, investment, and international tourism, they are an inspiration for young Londoners to get involved and take on the world in a huge variety of sports.”
Notes to editors: The bid to host 2015 Rugby World Cup was awarded to London in 2009. The last time England hosted the competition was in 1991. The bid to host the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championship was awarded to London in November 2011 beating a rival bid from Doha, Qatar. The IAAF member council voted 16-10 in favour of London to host the championships.