Press release

Lausanne, Switzerland, August 22, 2011 - The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) has donated 2274 tons of sand from the recent Olympic test event, the Visa Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Beach Volleyball International, to sports venues across London in a bid to increase interest and participation in the sport.

The sand originally came from a quarry in Godstone, Surrey.

Three sites have been selected; Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, The Score Sports Centre in Waltham Forest and Westminster Academy Sports Centre to use the sand for seven new courts, ready for an influx of new players inspired by the test event and Volleyball England's new 'Go Spike' campaign aimed at getting more people into the sport.

One of Great Britain's teams, Lucy Boulton and Denise Johns, made it to the bronze medal match but ended their competition in fourth, closely followed by the other British duo of Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney who finished tied for fifth, their efforts no doubt introducing a new fan base to the sport.

The highly successful Olympic 24-team women's test event was held August 9-14 at Horse Guards Parade, the iconic venue that will showcase the popular sport to a global audience from a 15,000-seat purpose-built stadium at the London 2012 Olympic Games. The Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball Intenrational test event saw Brazil's Liliane Maestrini/Angela Vieira defeat USA's Jennifer Kessy/April Ross in three sets in a thrilling gold medal match on August 14 as a prelude to 2012.

Debbie Jevans, LOCOG Director of Sport, said: "We want to leave a legacy for sport after the Games in a variety of ways, so it is great that the sand from our test event can be distributed to venues in this way, so the legacy can start to happen before the Games have even begun.   We hope that having these courts at different locations in London will inspire more young people to get involved in an exciting sport"

Lisa Wainwright, Chief Executive of Volleyball England said: "Through an innovative partnership between LOCOG, Sport England, and Volleyball England we are delighted to announce these new facilities. This will be the first set of legacy facilities operational in London before games time, all based within 10 miles of Horse Guards Parade. This is a fabulous opportunity for Londoners to come along to a local facility and give beach volleyball go, meet new friends, get healthier and maybe start a new sport for life."

Richard Callicott, President of Volleyball England said: "Beach volleyball is a sport everybody can play and these new facilities will give everyone a chance to get involved with this great sport. I would like to thank LOCOG and Sport England for our partnership and working together to create a great legacy for Volleyball. To be able to say that we are putting in our legacy one year before the 2012 Games means we will be able to enthuse young people and run coaching clinics and teach people about Beach volleyball so that they can enjoy the Games even more."

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100 or visit the website at www.london2012.com. Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog  http://www.london2012.com/blog.