By Duncan Mackay

January 25 - Foreign teams who do not set-up pre-Games training camps in the UK before the London 2012 Olympics will not be able to share in a £9 million fund promised by Sebastian Coe. 



Under the scheme proposed by Coe during London's successful bid, each country will receive the money towards the cost of their preparations when they reach an agreement to train at one of the 600 London 2012-approved training camp facilities.

A number of countries have already signed agreements with cities and towns in Britain, including major teams such as Jamaica and the United States who will be based Birmingham to smaller countries, like British Virgin Islands who have reached agreement to train in Aston, a small village in Hertfordshire.

Coe had originally offered the training grants during the bidding process but was forced to withdraw them after opposition from rival cities, including Paris.

But in October 2006 he announced that London 2012 would honour the promise and each of the 205 National Olympic Committees (NOC) and National Paralympic Committees (IPC) would be eligible to receive up to £25,000 each.

Cities and towns in Britain, however, are increasingly facing opposition from other European regions, who are hoping to enjoy some of the economic benefits of London hosting the Olympics.

These include Calais who, as first revealed by insidethegames last March, have launched "Mission 2012", a multi-million pound marketing campaign to persuade overseas teams to train there.

Among their main selling points is that Calais is only 21 miles from Dover and London is easily accessible in an hour by the Eurostar.

Uzbekistan and Senegal have already reached agreements to train there and now they have been joined by Chad, a former French colony.

The country, which made its Olympic debut at Tokyo in 1964, have never won a medal and sent only two athletes - a male and female sprinter - to the Games at Beijing in 2008.

It is one of the poorest members of the Olympic Movement and will now miss out on the grant offered by London 2012.

A spokeswoman for London 2012 told insidethegames: “We are offering grants of up to £25,000 towards the cost of using the facilities in our Pre-Games Training Camp guide. 

"All of the facilities in the guide are UK-based."

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Why train in Birmingham? asks Calais Mayor
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