Four years after London played host to the Olympic Games, the Olympic Legacy is still going strong in Hertfordshire.

Following the games in 2012, Hertfordshire County Council established the Hertfordshire Lifestyle and Legacy Partnership (HLLP), which aims to bring partners together from across the county to promote healthy and active lifestyles by attracting funding and encouraging volunteering in sport, physical activity, recreation and culture.

Since its establishment HLLP has contributed to a number of successes including:

• Sport England awarding £500,000 for the “Healthy and Active in Herts” programme
• A thriving Youth Activity Music and Arts Festival (YAMA)
• Hertfordshire hosting a stage of the Friends Life Women’s Cycling Tour
• Continued support for the Herts Learning Disability Games
• Increased participation in cycling and walking. For example, nearly 50,000 people took part in the health walks organised by our Countryside Management Service in 2015/16.

One Hertfordshire resident who has benefited from the partnership’s work is 16-year-old canoeist, Jason Brewer, from Waltham Cross.

Jason was one of 17 schoolchildren selected for the Team GB canoeing talent ID programme in 2012, and is now part of an intensive coaching programme creating potential Olympic champions and hopes to compete at the 2020 games in Tokyo.

Also hoping to compete at Tokyo 2020 in the Paralympics is badminton player Gobi Ranganathan from Stevenage.

Gobi, who has Spina Bifida and uses a wheelchair, was one of the London 2012 Olympic Torchbearers – carrying the Olympic flame and torch through his home town, and also acted as a Paralympic Flame Ambassador for Hertfordshire.

The experience encouraged him to support Badminton England’s push for Para-Badminton to be included in the Paralympics – a campaign which paid off when, in October 2014, it was announced that the sport would feature in Tokyo 2020.

As well as working full time for the Herts Sports Partnership, Gobi now trains with his coach twice a week, does gym work four times a week, and plays badminton socially – last year the Para-Badminton club he helped to form won the able-bodied league they competed in.

And he hasn’t let a serious heart condition hold him back – he has recently successfully returned to international competition (quicker than predicted) having undergone open heart surgery last May.

Gobi said: “While there’s plenty of hard work ahead of me, my journey is at least underway once more.

“While Rio 2016 won’t be providing an opportunity for me or my Para-badminton friends, I will be watching with great interest. Not only will I be admiring the efforts of this year’s Olympians and Paralympians, but I’ll also be learning ways in which I can enhance my chances of an appearance and success in 2020.”

Teresa Heritage, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Localism and Libraries, said: “Building on the legacy of London 2012, it’s fantastic to see that so many of our residents have been inspired to work towards their own Olympic, Paralympic and sporting dreams.

“I wish Jason, Gobi and all of our other Olympians and Paralympians luck as they Go for Gold in Rio and beyond!”