Last Friday in the ground’s of the University of Lincoln’s Riseholme Campus. Project leads from the areas of sport, culture, learning & skills, economic development & volunteering began to address this question.

In September the University of Lincoln’s Riseholme Campus was chosen as a camp for equestrian events after being recommended to the Olympic Committee by Sport England. However; the 2012 Olympics is not something that will simply be contained within the training venue, instead the 2012 Olympics & Paralympics will have a massive county wide impact that will unquestionably engage the whole community.

Led by Cllr Doreen Stephenson- Leader of East Lindsey District Council & 2012 Champion for Lincolnshire, the impact and legacy of 2012 was discussed in detail at Friday’s briefing.

Updates were delivered by: Steve De Wint- Lincolnshire Sports Partnership, Catherine Herrick- Lincolnshire County Council, Marie Kaempfe-Rice, Learning & Skills Council, Robin Wright- Director of Sport University of Lincoln and James Brindle- Olympic Project Manager.

The information delivered by key project leads, emphasised the importance of unity. Lincolnshire needs to be pro-active and engage all parties as the economic effect for the County could potentially be phenomenal. However most importantly we need to approach the 2012 Olympics & Paralympics as a County as success will be determined by everybody’s participation.

On Sunday afternoon shoppers stopped to celebrate the end of a very successful Beijing Olympics and to symbolise the handover of the Olympic Torch to London for the 2012 Games.

The success of team GB in 2008 has really been something to shout about finishing fourth overall in the medal table with 15 Bronze, 13 Silver and an amazing 19 Gold’s.

In celebration of these great achievements for Team GB, to raise awareness of sport in the county and to symbolise the handover, Lincolnshire Sports Partnership coordinated the County’s Olympic Handover Celebrations.

In Lincoln flags were raised at the Guildhall, the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, & the University of Lincoln, and in Lincoln’s City Square a variety of sporting and cultural activities were held with a distinctly Chinese theme.

The afternoon saw karate demonstrations by Lincoln’s Kofukan Karate club, Street Dancing by Streetz Ahead Theatre Artz, a traditional Chinese lion, and Chinese music rounded off with a presentation involving Councillor Ron Hills the Mayor of Lincoln and Mr. Pang, Chair of the Chinese Community in Lincoln. This denoted the end of the Beijing Olympics and the build up to London 2012.

The Closing Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is on the afternoon of Sunday 24 August. During the Closing Ceremony the Olympic Flag will be handed to London - the next city to host the Olympic Games.

In Lincolnshire there are a number of events planned to celebrate the hand over and flags will be raised across the County. In Lincoln we will be ‘Flying the flag’ at the University, The Guildhall and the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.

At 2pm on Sunday afternoon potential 2012 athletes will gather at each of these sites, and also at The Collection which is currently exhibiting the Ancient Greeks, Athletes, Warriors and Hero’s.

At 2:30pm when Boris Johnson collects the flag on behalf of the London 2012 Olympic Committee, a procession of athletes will filter to City Square- Lincoln carrying the flags of the World’s Nations. When in City Square they will then join in with a variety of cultural and sporting activities including traditional Chinese dancing and Karate.

At 3pm a symbolic handover of a flag will take place between the Mayor of Lincoln and a leader from the Lincoln Chinese Community, four count- down clock will also jet off to the four corners of the county to serve as a reminder of the start of the 2012 London Olympics.

Janet Inman from the Lincolnshire Sports Partnership said: “This is a really exciting time for sport in the county; we have a number of athletes competing in Beijing and hope to have even more participating in 2012. There will also be opportunities for athletes from around the world, to come to Lincolnshire and train in advance of the London Olympics. We now need the whole nation to get behind the Olympics and embrace all the opportunities that this fantastic sporting event will bring.’