Limerick is poised to become an international sports training centre in the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics in London, according to leading Irish sports physiotherapist Gerard Hartmann.
Double Olympic gold medallist Kelly Holmes arrives in Limerick next week for a fortnight at the Hartmann Clinic to rehabilitate an Achilles tendon injury before the Commonwealth Games.
Mr Hartmann, who runs a well-known sports injury clinic, has said the mix of state-of-the-art training facilities at the University of Limerick (UL) and Shannon International Airport will attract scores of elite athletes ahead of the London games.
"Limerick is already the Irish capital of sport and I can see it fast becoming an international capital of sport. For me personally, the timing of the London Olympics is perfect and I am looking forward to bringing some of the best sports people in the world to Limerick," he said.
Up to 35 Olympic champions have been treated over the past decade at his international sports injury clinic on Patrick Street in Limerick. Mr Hartmann also works with top rugby and soccer players and GAA inter-county players.
Mr Hartmann played down two incidents in which elite Kenyan athletes were attacked while training in Limerick last year prompting him to move his business to the south of France for 11 weeks.
"The facts are that two athletes were assaulted while they were out training on the canal bank. One was pushed into the canal while another was stoned by a group of youths. There was probably a small minority out there drinking or sniffing glue, or maybe they were simply racist attacks, but you get anti-social behaviour in every town."
Other leading international sports stars including Sonia O'Sullivan and Paula Radcliffe also suffered unpleasant experiences in Limerick and were advised at the time not to train alone.
Mr Hartmann believes his decision to move his business temporarily to France was good because it woke people up to problems of anti-social behaviour along the popular training route, which leads from the city to UL. The route, which follows the banks of the Park Canal and the River Shannon, is regularly patrolled by gardaí on bicycles and is still popular with training athletes.
Mr Hartmann also heaped praise on the facilities at the UL sports arena and suggested that his business could move there permanently.