Before summer 2005 the idea that the Olympic Games might come to Dorset was little more than a dream. On July 6, 2005, though, that dream became very much a reality, with the announcement that London had won the bid for the 2012 Games - and that the sailing events would be happening at Weymouth and Portland.

The venue for the world`s Olympic sailors will be the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy - a multi-million-pound project which was already nearing completion before there was serious talk of a successful Olympic bid. Even without the Olympics it was set to establish Weymouth and Portland as one of the major centres in the UK for competitive sailing.

The 2012 Games has put extra impetus behind that development, with additional facilities already planned. Olympic sailing squads from all nations will be practising and training in the waters of Weymouth Bay in the 2007 days to go leading up to 2012.

Source: Dorset Echo