Athletes from the Caribbean island will use the athletics arena and 50m swimming pool at the K2 Crawley leisure centre whilst sports science and sports medicine support will be provided by students and staff from the University of Chichester.

West Sussex County Council Leader Henry Smith said: “I’m delighted we will be welcoming the Barbados team to Crawley in the run-up to the 2012 Games and I hope more teams will sign up to use our excellent facilities across the county.

“West Sussex will be working very closely with the Barbados team to ensure its competitors get the right training, support and experience to qualify for the Games and to perform at their best in London.”

Brathwaite could become his country’s first ever Olympic gold medallist at London 2012. Barbados has won just one Olympic Games medal since it made its debut at Mexico City 1968 but the 21-year-old 110m hurdler is going for glory after being crowned World Champion in Berlin last August.

See Brathwaite in action below.