National Sports Centre Papendal

The National Sports Centre Papendal is the national sports development centre of the Netherlands, located in the Veluwe woods 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from Arnhem.

National Sports Centre

Coach Dieter Kollark giving instruction to German athlete Petra Lammert on shot put training, within the indoor facilities at the National Sports Centre Papendal

The first event held at Papendal was the 1980 Summer Paralympics, from June 21 to July 5. However the site was formally adopted and developed from 1993, after the merger of the Dutch National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Nederlandse Sport Federatie (NSF). NOC*NSF have 90 affiliated national sports organizations, representing about 2700 individual sports clubs.^[1]

A center for Education and Elite Sport, the chairman is Andre Bolhuis. There are facilities for various sports, including athletics, cycling and horse riding. Papendal is also the training location of football club SBV Vitesse, and the clubs youth development system. Supporting facilities include a conference centre and hotel.

In preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympics, in 2011 the facility built a replica of the proposed BMX racing track at the London Velopark venue.^[2] The track will host the second event on the 2011 UCI BMX World Championships, on the 27/28 May 2011.

Papendal Games

Laurien Hoos competing at the 2007 Papendal Games

The Papendal Games were an annually held athletics tournament. Together with the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games and NK Athletics Papendal, the combined event was the biggest annual athletics event held in the Netherlands. Held early in the summer season, the competition was traditionally one of the last opportunities for Dutch athletes to qualify for major international tournaments. The Papendal Games were last held in 2008, suspended due to the inability to find a sponsor.

See Also

• Netherlands at the Olympics

References

1. ^ "Over ons (About us)" (in Dutch). NOC*NSF. http://www.nocnsf.nl/over-nocnsf/. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
2. ^ Ollie Williams (25 March 2011). "Building a London 2012 venue - in a Dutch forest". BBC Sport. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olliewilliams/2011/03/building_a_london_2012_venue_-.shtml. Retrieved 25 March 2011. 

External links

Coordinates: 52°0′33″N 5°49′15″E / 52.00917°N 5.82083°E / 52.00917; 5.82083

• National Sports Centre Papendal website
• NOC*NSF official website
• Papendal Conference Centre and Hotel