altBRITISH towns and cities should not take for granted that overseas teams will prepare for the 2012 Olympics here, if the experience of Beijing is anything to go by.

 

Many countries are shunning China to prepare instead in Japan, including Britain's swimming team.

 

Up to 20 countries have made arrangements to train in Japan.

Britain's swim team, which took part in a meet in Japan last summer, will train in Osaka.
 
"We chose Osaka for the familiarity of the area for the British swimmers and coaches and the quality of the facility," said David Richards, media manager for British Swimming.
 
"It also has easy access to Beijing."
 
A flight from Tokyo to Beijing takes less than four hours and there are many direct flights to Beijing from cities in Western Japan.
 
Besides Britain's swimming team, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands have arranged for some of their athletes to train in Japan ahead of the Olympics, according to the Japan Olympic Committee.
 
More are expected to follow.
 
Sweden will set up a training camp in Fukuoka for 150 athletes while Belgium is looking at a training facility in nearby Kumamoto.
 
Jana Rawlinson of Australia, the world champion in the 400 metres hurdles who is coached by former British number one Chris Rawlinson, said she wi'll train in Japan and arrive in Beijing on August 15 -  a week after the Games open.
 
Rawlinson acknowledged the pollution might not be as bad as expected but still plans to train elsewhere.
 
She said: "I am going to avoid it until I have to race in it."
 
Eberhard Vollmer, a spokesman for the German athletics federation, said:  "We picked the same place where we prepared last year for the World Championships (in Osaka) because we had a very good experience there.
 
"The climate is nearly identical, we can work off the jet lag and just the entire surroundings were good."