By Tom Degun at the World Sports Congress in London

london 2012 olympicsFebruary 27 - Esther Nicholls, UK Sport's head of major events, says the vision of the high performance agency is to use London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 to establish Britain as a leading host of major international sporting events.

Following the conclusion of last summer's Olympic and Paralympic Games, UK Sport announced its Gold Event Series in November, which aims to bring over 70 of the world's most prestigious sporting events to the UK, including 36 World and European Championships.

The £27 million ($43 million/€32 million) National Lottery funded programme looks to generate £287 million ($455 million/€356 million) between 2013 and 2019, while flagship international events have been identified for eight London 2012 venues and five Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games venues.

"Our post-Games vision from 2013 to 2019 is to use London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 to establish the UK as a leading host of major international sporting events," Nicholls said here.

"The success of the London 2012 Games, both in preparation and execution, has put the UK's global competitiveness in bidding for sporting events at an all-time high.

"We are confident that Glasgow 2014 will follow that success.

"But UK Sport has been working on an ambitious hosting strategy beyond these events to capitalise on this position for some time now.

"Of the 70 events we have targeted, we have already secured 15 of them, including the 2017 World Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium.

"So we already have a fantastic six years of great sporting events already planned but we want to attract even more events given the opportunity we have off the back of London 2012 and Glasgow 2014."

Olympic ParkUK Sport has identified eight major international events for London 2012 venues over the next six years

The UK Sport head of major events also highlighted the all-round benefits that the hosting of major sport tournaments provides Britain.

"The continued hosting of world-class events supports our athletes' performance ambitions, provides a unique platform to inspire participation and allows sport to contribute towards the economic growth agenda," she said.

"Research shows that as well as the obvious economic benefits, the performance of athletes increases by 25 per cent when competing at home while 74 per cent of young people attending events inspired to participate.

"So the benefits of bring major events to the UK are huge."

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