LONDON (Kyodo) The Japanese Olympic Committee held a signing ceremony with Loughborough University on Thursday for the use of on-campus sporting facilities before the 2012 London Olympics.

The ceremony took place at the Japanese Embassy in London, attended by JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda, JOC Executive Board member Ichiro Kono and Loughborough University Vice Chancellor Shirley Pearce.

The agreement allows Japanese athletes to hold pre-Olympic training camps at the facilities, one of the best in the world.

Loughborough University, located about 150 km north of London, has all sorts of sporting facilities, including shooting and equestrian ones.

Women's marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe and two-time Olympic 1,500-meter gold medalist Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, used to train at Loughborough University.