Olympic Handover Flags were raised in the city over the weekend at Nottingham Castle, Nottingham Tennis Centre and the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) to celebrate the moment when London became the official Olympic Games Host City.

The iconic London Olympic Handover Flags were raised in the city at the same time as they were raised around the UK – a first in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Nottingham City Council celebrated the Handover Day with an exciting sporting showcase and relay run across the city. The showcase which took place at Nottingham Tennis Centre included impressive sporting displays featuring London 2012 hopefuls from Beeston Hockey Club and the High Performance Centre at Nottingham Tennis Centre.

The relay run took place between the three buildings raising the Olympic Handover Flag, starting off at Nottingham Castle, and travelling on to emda before crossing the finishing line at Nottingham Tennis Centre. An Olympic Handover Flag was raised at each of the buildings along the way with the Sheriff of Nottingham, Councillor Brian Grocock and Robin Hood raising the flag at Nottingham Castle, and Bryan Steel, Olympic cycling silver medallist in 2004, raising the flag at emda and Nottingham Tennis Centre.

The first leg of the relay was run by Des Coleman, weatherman for BBC East Midlands Today and BBC Radio Nottingham with the remaining legs being completed by the London 2012 hopefuls from Beeston Hockey Club and the High Performance Centre at Nottingham Tennis Centre. These athletes will be representing two of the venues in Nottingham which have been selected by The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games as training sites for athletes competing in London 2012. These sites are Nottingham Tennis Centre and Highfields Sports Centre and are amongst several potential training sites in the city.

Councillor David Trimble, Portfolio holder for Communities, Leisure and Culture said: “We are absolutely thrilled that we have so many sporting venues in Nottingham available as training sites for London 2012. It is a great achievement for the city and we are excited to start the countdown to the games by joining in with the national celebrations and raising the London Olympic Handover Flag.”

Abby Johnson Brennan, emda Deputy Chief Executive said: "We are very pleased to be part of the celebrations to mark the Handover. Hopefully, events such as these will help demonstrate that the reach of the 2012 Games will go beyond London and their impact will be felt across the East Midlands and the entire country. Working with partners, we have made excellent progress this year putting in place the projects and activities that will deliver a legacy for the region from the 2012 Games. Projects such as CompeteFor - the electronic brokerage service connecting small and medium sized enterprises to Games-related contracts - are innovative and never been attempted before. I would encourage businesses to register if they haven’t already done so."

The Olympic Handover Flags raised in the city joined over 500 flags delivered to locations nationwide including HM Armed Forces, embassies around the world, City Halls, British Council offices and Foreign and Commonwealth offices.

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