City of Ghent

'A CHALLENGE IS AN OPPORTUNITY'

Together with you, the city of Ghent wants to take up the challenge of realising your Olympic dream. There is a reason why Ghent was proclaimed the very first sports city of Flanders in 2011: the top-class sports facilities and top-level sports events which Ghent has already hosted in a variety of sports disciplines and for a variety of target groups, such as the international Gymnastics Gala, the Tour de France, the Tour of Flanders, the Keizer Karel Cup (Charlemagne Cup), ....

The city of Ghent offers excellent possibilities to meet the needs of selected top-class athletes in preparation of the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012, as far as top sports infrastructure and sports (medical) assistance on the one hand and lodging, catering, transport and leisure on the other hand are concerned. Top-class athletes and their assistants will find an excellent base of operations here. Foreign top sports delegations can not only organise preparatory traineeships in 2010 and 2011, there is also the possibility for top-class athletes to prepare themselves in the best circumstances by means of acclimation traineeships in 2012.

Ghent is a bustling and historic city which has grown into a crossroads of roads and waterways, but also a crossroads of cultures and people, thanks to a rich past and central location. In other words, "a ^pocket-sized metropolis" with all the advantages of a metropolis, combined with the charm of an agreeable city. Thanks to its historic architecture and medieval buildings and waterways, Ghent is occasionally called the 'Venice of Northern Europe'. Ghent can be summed up in a couple of words - 'Ghent: a lot of city'.

Christophe Peeters, Sports alderman