Elite Olympic centres

A £15 million Sports Technology Institute is being created at Loughborough University in partnership with the East Midlands Development Agency to develop technology to assist the Britain's elite athletes in their preparation for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The announcement comes as a new sports science centre, also used to help prepare athletes for the Olympics, has opened at Plymouth University.

The multimillion-pound Spinnaker Building houses hot and cold climatic chambers, an immersion facility, a biomechanics laboratory and a swimming flume.