Olympic 'Open Weekend' 23 July 2010

Last weekend was Open Weekend to mark two years to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Open Weekend involved 119 events across Northern Ireland and was developed to help people see, touch, hear and take part in new things to spark interest and enthusiasm in the run up to the Games in 2012.

I attended the launch of this year’s Open Weekend with Belfast Lord Mayor, Councillor Pat Convery, at Belfast City Council’s ‘Try It’ event at the Ozone Leisure Complex in Ormeau Park. The community sports event involved over 500 children aged between the ages of 8 and 15 from summer schemes across Belfast. They had the opportunity to try out over 15 Olympic and non Olympic sports, as well as participating in dance.

We were joined at the event by Paul Deighton, Chief Executive Officer, London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG), and Boyzone’s Shane Lynch, who is an ambassador for Donaghmore's arts and sports project ImagineAction.