OLYMPIANS and Paralympians visited Kings Park Leisure Centre to rapturous applause on their route round BCP.

The group of five athletes arrived on the open-top bus at Kings Park and were greeted by a round of applause from locals waving Olympic flags.

After their arrival, the crowd moved into Kings Park Leisure Centre to watch a performance by Bournemouth Elite Cheer.

The public had the opportunity to watch the performance and afterwards line up to speak with the athletes and receive autographs.

They were able to speak with Bryony Page, Izzy Songhurst, Jack Eyers, Leo McCrea and Matt Aldridge.

Zoe Dehnert and Graham Baines, co-owners and directors of Bournemouth Elite, were extremely excited for the group to perform for the Olympians and Paralympians.

Zoe said: “As cheerleading is a provisional Olympic sport, we thought it would be great to showcase what we can do.

“Quite often when you think of cheerleading, you think of side-lining cheerleading with pompoms and that’s not what we do, so it was great to showcase that today.”

Graham added: “We’re really excited because cheerleading is a provisional Olympic sport, meaning it could be added to the Olympics.

“We hope that some of them will be the Olympians of the future and for them to come here and meet the Olympians of today is great, because we’re hoping that they are going to be the Olympians of tomorrow.”

Two members of Hail, the Bournemouth Elite world championship team, expressed their nerves but excitement for the day.

Olympic enthusiast Christine Rush attended the event today and was keen to show her support.

Christine said: “I just admire them all, their ability and endurance.

“I was really excited to come, I watched all of the Olympics and Paralympics and it was so nice to meet them all in real life.”

Will, 20, was excited to speak with trampoline gymnast Izzy Songhurst after recalling how Izzy’s mother used to coach him for trampolining when he was younger.