Olympics in London

[guest22]

Here in Belgium the rumor goes that for the Olympics in London, a number of pistols shooters are planning to stay ‘on the continent’ because the British officials will only allow pistol shooters into Britain 15 days before the competition. Shooting clubs in France, Belgium and even Holland would make arrangements to update their pistol ranges to provide training facilities to the Olympic competitors.
Our British readers of this forum will probably be able to tell us more about this exceptional arrangement.
Regards,

Guy

[Jimmy32]

From what I understand 5 UK shooters will be granted home office permission to train in the uk.

[JamesH]

It would be interesting to know what training facilities the govt will be providing for foreign competitors in the run-up.
I guess none, they won't be able to handle their firearms even.

Pretty dumb given the rifle and shotgunners, even AP shooters won't have any real restriction.

[David Levene]

Our British readers of this forum will probably be able to tell us more about this exceptional arrangement.

There is nothing exceptional in having a limited time for training in-country before a competition.

I too have heard that clubs in France, Holland and Belgium will be offerring training facilities. Good luck to them.

Having training camps away from the competition city is a perfectly normal situation. I am pretty sure the competitors will not notice any difference from what happens at other major championships.

[Spencer]

Having training camps away from the competition city is a perfectly normal situation...

and invariably cheaper

[RobStubbs]

Here in Belgium the rumor goes that for the Olympics in London, a number of pistols shooters are planning to stay ‘on the continent’ because the British officials will only allow pistol shooters into Britain 15 days before the competition. Shooting clubs in France, Belgium and even Holland would make arrangements to update their pistol ranges to provide training facilities to the Olympic competitors.
Our British readers of this forum will probably be able to tell us more about this exceptional arrangement.
Regards,

Guy

I haven't heard any of the details you mention but it could be true.

As David says though, it really doesn't matter.

From what I understand 5 UK shooters will be granted home office permission to train in the uk.

You're missinformed. I don't know the exact numbers but it's in double figures.

Rob.

[Hemmers]

From what I understand 5 UK shooters will be granted home office permission to train in the uk.

You're missinformed. I don't know the exact numbers but it's in double figures.

Rob.

As I recall, the original press releases said provisional agreement was reached to issue up to 50 Section 5 permits. How many people British Shooting actually nominated for such permits I don't know. I gather the limiting factor was range capacity/location as they struggled to reach agreement with the Home Office on which ranges could be used (I heard the HO wanted them to use a bunch of unsuitable military ranges, instead of obvious places like Bisley?) and the conditions of storage. Could be misinformed, there hasn't exactly been a lot of publicity about it but thats how I understand the situation to be.
Number of issued permits is certainly in double figures.

As for training away from London, yes not uncommon at all. A whole load of sports will have training centres made available in Birmingham and Manchester.

Obviously the sailing will all be at Weymouth. Southampton Uni got some money to develop their hockey/astro-turf facilities and will be hosting hockey teams for pre-games training. No doubt similar investment is going on elsewhere.

[Alexander]

As I recall, the original press releases said provisional agreement was reached to issue up to 50 Section 5 permits. How many people British Shooting actually nominated for such permits I don't know. I gather the limiting factor was range capacity/location as they struggled to reach agreement with the Home Office on which ranges could be used (I heard the HO wanted them to use a bunch of unsuitable military ranges, instead of obvious places like Bisley?) and the conditions of storage.

Gorgs Geikie mentioned in her blog yesterday, that she would be training in Bisley (also two sessions in .22 sport pistol, the first there since 1997, as she described it), and was missing the Swiss cow bells. One truly great athlete.

http://www.gorgs4gold.com/index.php/com ... 010-update

Alexander

[Hemmers]

Ah, looks like British Shooting finally beat the Home Office into submission. The original agreement for these permits was done a couple of years ago and they've been wrangling over the details ever since.

Looks like they've finally been cleared to use Bisley :D

[Jimmy32]

Here in Belgium the rumor goes that for the Olympics in London, a number of pistols shooters are planning to stay ‘on the continent’ because the British officials will only allow pistol shooters into Britain 15 days before the competition. Shooting clubs in France, Belgium and even Holland would make arrangements to update their pistol ranges to provide training facilities to the Olympic competitors.
Our British readers of this forum will probably be able to tell us more about this exceptional arrangement.
Regards,

Guy

I haven't heard any of the details you mention but it could be true.

As David says though, it really doesn't matter.

From what I understand 5 UK shooters will be granted home office permission to train in the uk.

You're missinformed. I don't know the exact numbers but it's in double figures.

Rob.

Sorry for the misinformation that was based on some press release I found. So for those on the 2012 squad that have the permit they can store their guns at home like they used to, 13 years ago? What does the permit look like? Just a sheet of paper with a signature from Someone Very Important?

[Jimmy32]

It would be interesting to know what training facilities the govt will be providing for foreign competitors in the run-up.
I guess none, they won't be able to handle their firearms even.

Pretty dumb given the rifle and shotgunners, even AP shooters won't have any real restriction.

If its anything like the Commonwealth Games, expect the shooters to be safely seperated from the innocent spectators by a wall of steel fencing. Like a zoo to keep the evil gun bearing savages contained.

[Alexander]

As most animal caretakers will assure you, the main virtue of bars and cages in today's zoos is to protect valuable animals from reckless visitors... ;-).

See it in this way when doing your cage act 2012. I hope that pole dancing will be introduced for the finals...

Alexander

[Richard H]

Maybe they'll call the venue the ThunderDome.

[Jimmy32]

As most animal caretakers will assure you, the main virtue of bars and cages in today's zoos is to protect valuable animals from reckless visitors... ;-).

See it in this way when doing your cage act 2012. I hope that pole dancing will be introduced for the finals...

Alexander

Pole dancing for the ladies only thanks. We wouldn't want to have a competition where men and women competed directly with one another, think of the ego....

[j-team]

If its anything like the Commonwealth Games, expect the shooters to be safely seperated from the innocent spectators by a wall of steel fencing. Like a zoo to keep the evil gun bearing savages contained.

They claimed that it was to stop a competitor throwing his/her pistol to someone in the spectator area!

[Richard H]

Yes could just imagine someone going on a 5 shot .22 rampage.

[mapletune]

They wanted to protect the audience from .22 with JUST a wire fence? what were they thinking!!

Bulletproof glass was probably too expensive...

[Richard H]

No you miss the point they were trying to thwart the conspiracy, that the competitor would through his pistol to the shooter in the giant crowds that there are for a shooting match, you know the 100,000 or so spectators.

[Jimmy32]

They wanted to protect the audience from .22 with JUST a wire fence? what were they thinking!!

Bulletproof glass was probably too expensive...

It was to protect the country from the heavy risks of someone pegging their 5 shot semi into the crowd. Certainly couldn't say that who ever was in charge of security didn't think outside the box.

I would have thought the risk of conspiracy was highest in the armory. Maybe that was covered by four guys pointing SMGs at each other. Any funny business everyone opens fire.