More Londoners get in shape for Olympics

In training: individual pursuits are on the rise in the capital
13 April 2012

Londoners are increasingly getting themselves fit in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, according to official figures.

Just over a million adults in the capital regularly play sport - a rise of almost 54,000 over the previous year.

The annual survey by Sport England, which promotes grassroots sport, found 17.7 per cent of London adults played at least half an hour's sport three times a week.

But two thirds of boroughs are below the national average of 16.6 per cent and experts warned that unless Londoners got off the couch in even greater numbers in the coming year, a government target of getting one million more people active as an Olympics legacy would be missed.

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Participation in four out of the five boroughs hosting the bulk of the Games - Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Hackney - is below the national average. However, Greenwich, which will have five events, saw sports participation rise almost seven per cent to 22.7 per cent.

A swathe of boroughs from Camden to Kingston have the most active Londoners. Hammersmith and Fulham (23.2 per cent) is London's sportiest area but Brent (12.3 per cent) tops the couch potato league.

Activity levels in the capital climbed above the national average for the first time since the start of the survey three years ago. Researchers believe this is driven by a boom in individual pursuits of cycling and running rather than team sports.

City Hall sports commissioner Kate Hoey said there must be greater participation because of extra investment. Sport England will spend £480million on 46 sports until 2013 and London sport will be further boosted by £15million in grants from City Hall.

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