Team Lesotho at Glasgow 2014
This summer we saw more than 6,500 athletes from 71 nations and territories competing in 17 sports over 11 days at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The Commonwealth Games is the only multi sport event which Wales competes in as a nation. This gives our proud sporting nation the opportunity to truly unite. Team Wales returned with a record breaking 36 medals and new sporting heroes to help inspire young people across Wales to get hooked on sport.
We were all immensely proud of all 232 members of Team Wales and everyone across Wales did a fantastic job of showing their support.
However, there was another nation receiving the support of Wales at Glasgow. The Lesotho Commonwealth Team was welcomed back to Glyndwr University, Wrexham to train prior to the Games after their successful stay two years ago for London 2012. The Team were able to make use of the excellent sporting facilities on offer in North Wales as well as quickly becoming part of the community.
Lesotho is country similar in size to Wales which is landlocked by South Africa. It has had strong links with Wales for many years which are always strengthening.
Team Lesotho had 27 athletes competing in athletics, boxing, cycling, squash, swimming and table tennis. While in Wrexham they took time out of their busy training schedules to visit local primary and secondary schools and to learn more about Welsh culture. This included supporting the fantastic fundraising efforts of The Maelor School, Penley as they completed a sponsored walk up to Dinas Bran Castle to raise money for their strong link with a school in Lesotho (http://www.maelorschool.org.uk/lesotho-kingdom-walk-raises-4-500/52).
Although Team Lesotho did not win any medals in Glasgow, they competed at the highest level showcasing the incredible talents of their athletes. This video shows their journey through the 11 days of competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRCjE5Vz6A4
You can follow still Team Lesotho on Twitter: @LesothoComTeam.
Follow this link to learn more about the agreement between Glyndwr University and The Government of Lesotho to help develop greater sporting opportunities in both Wales and Lesotho: http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/AboutGlyndwrUniversity/Newsandmediacentre/Newsarchive/PressReleases2014/lesothomouactionplan/
