Delegates from the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC), led by Tian Ye, the President for the Chinese Institute of Sports Science, have visited the University, which is located in Uxbridge in West London, to inspect the facilities and were reportedly impressed.

China, who finished top of the medals table at their home Games in Beijing in 2008, are the most sought after of all the 205 countries due to compete at London 2012 because of the potential trade links that they may bring with them

Among the cities to have courted them are Birmingham, whose Leader Mike Whitby has made a succession of trips to China since London were awarded the Games in 2005 to try to tie up a deal, and Sheffield, who claimed last September to have opened talks with the COC.

Brunel has a strong Chinese student community.

Professor Ian Campbell, who is leading Brunel's 2012 programmes, said: "It has been very important for Brunel to host a delegation from the Chinese Olympic Committee.

"We are very encouraged by their enthusiasm to build a long-term partnership in the areas of pre-Games training camps and sports science support services and we look forward to developing this relationship over the coming months."

The area is also due to open a new £25 million Olympic-sized swimming pool later this year, the first one to be built in the capital since Crystal Palace was opened nearly half-a-century ago.

Jean Palmer, the director of planning and community services at Hillingdon Council said: "Hillingdon Council was delighted to show some members of the Chinese Olympic Committee the brand new Hillingdon Sport and Leisure Complex.

"We are looking forward to the opening of the complex in March bringing the first Olympic-sized swimming pool to be built in London for around 40 years to Hillingdon residents.

"The pool includes state-of-the-art analysis equipment making it perfect for performance sports training and the ideal place for Hillingdon's swimmers to train and achieve sporting success."

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