Olympic hopes for sailing centre

It is hoped the centre will be the UK's top facility for sailors

The British bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games could benefit Dorset thanks to plans for a £6.4m flagship centre for sailing.

Planning consent has recently been given for the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy's new centre to be built at Osprey Quay in Portland.

The academy is the preferred Olympic venue of the Royal Yachting Association, the sport's UK governing body

Bill Ludlow, the academy's chairman, said: "It has been our dream for the last 25 years that one day we may be able to utilise the finest small boat sailing waters in northern Europe, here at Portland, to host a British Olympic Games.

"The timing could not be better. In 12 months' time the new academy should be almost completed and ready to host the British team trials for the Athens Olympics.

If the Olympic bid is successful there would need to be a mini-Olympic village in the borough and we would be the focus of the world's media for Britain's most successful Olympic sport.

Jim Knight, Dorset MP

"If Britain wins the bid to host the games in 2012, the benefits and the prestige for Weymouth and Portland will be incalculable."

The academy is currently awaiting confirmation of a £3m funding bid to Sport England - a request thought to have been boosted by the government's backing of London's Olympic bid.

Dorset MP Jim Knight said: "There is little doubt that this announcement makes the development of Portland Sailing Academy a virtual certainty.

"If the Olympic bid is successful there would need to be a mini-Olympic village in the borough and we would be the focus of the world's media for Britain's most successful Olympic sport.

Olympic success

"The opportunity is huge."

Many of the country's top Olympic sailors regularly train at the sailing academy and Ben Ainsley, who took gold at Sydney, trained for both the 1996 and 2000 Olympics at Portland.

Great Britain achieved huge success at the last Olympics when the sailing team finished first among 69 competing countries, achieving three gold and two silver medals.

It is hoped the new facility will become a national centre for sailing, attracting sailors from across the UK.