Since many of the athletes training for the 2012 London Summer Olympics and Paralympics are doing so on the Island, the site for the next Canadian Olympic Committee board meeting was in many ways a no-brainer.

The COC announced its board meeting for Victoria from March 3-5.

It will give COC president Marcel Aubut, former president and CEO of the NHL’s Quebec Nordiques, and COC CEO Chris Overholt a chance to gauge the progress being made for London 2012 along what is being dubbed the Olympic Corridor from Elk Lake, through Saanich Commonwealth Place to the Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence on the Camosun College Interurban campus.

A total of 35 to 40 COC delegates and staff are expected to attend the board meeting.

“An extraordinary percentage of Summer Olympians come from this community and that’s the real story,” said Hugh MacDonald, executive director of SportHost Victoria, who helped land the board meeting for the B.C. capital.

“This will give the COC board a good opportunity to become familiar with what goes on in Victoria and to see that the reason why so many Olympians come out of this community is not by accident.”

With London 2012 only 162 days away, this will be a key planning session for the COC.

“It provides us with an opportunity to celebrate Victoria’s and British Columbia’s many contributions to Canadian sport success over the years, and we look forward to meeting with many of those who have made that success possible,” said COC communications executive director Dimitri Soudas, in a statement announcing the board meeting site.

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