Sport at university used to be strictly for the hearties - definitely not cool for the average student. Whether the facilities were up to scratch was important only to the minority of applicants who hoped to play in university teams.

That has changed, however: more than 1.7 million students take part in regular physical activity. After state of the art laboratories and a plush new student services centre, sports facilities seem to be at the centre of every ambitious university's plans.

Smart new facilities are seen as a selling point for applicants, as well as for the financially significant conference trade. The approach of the 2012 Olympics has provided another incentive, as universities vie to host teams and to be part of the network of official training camps in the run-up to the Games.

Nowadays, the least competitive undergraduate is likely to use the gym - and to compare the facilities with those at commercial centres that may offer student discounts. At the same time, representative teams have flourished and standards have risen.

Many universities have also seen a resurgence of interest in internal leagues, which accommodate a range of standards. At Sheffield University, for example, politics students alone run a dozen five-a-side football teams.

There always were outstanding student sportsmen and women. Roger Bannister was a medical student when he ran the first mile in under four minutes at Oxford University. Gareth Edwards was training to be a teacher at what is now the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff when he became captain of the Wales rugby union team.

Students are certain to be well represented in the British teams at this summer's Olympic Games. More than 40 Loughborough University swimmers have achieved national qualification times, for example. Liam Tancock is world champion in the 100m backstroke and has been selected for Beijing already.

Tancock is one of the growing number of students at UK universities benefiting from sports scholarships. More than 1,500 were available to prospective and current students in 2007 - some for particular sports, such as Newcastle's skiing scholarships or Nottingham's for canoeists; others for a wider range of sporting excellence.

Students regarded by Loughborough as “genuine contenders” for selection for the London Olympics are eligible for the university's 2012 scholarships, which are worth up to £3,000 a year in fees, £1,000 in living expenses and £250 in campus memberships, with coveted free parking on campus thrown in.

The number of sports scholarships has grown rapidly in recent years, with universities' own efforts being supplemented by the Government-sponsored Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (Tass), which is restricted to students qualified to represent England.

The scheme pays £3,000, but a special Tass 2012 is worth up to £10,000 in support services ranging from coaching to sports psychology, physiotherapy and nutrition.

Sports facilities have become so important that some of the biggest developments in Britain have been at universities. It is estimated that campus facilities are now worth a staggering £20billion, with more being added every year.

Brunel University, for example, spent £14million when it transferred its sports facilities from the site of the former Borough Road physical education college to its main campus in northwest London. They include an indoor athletics centre, spa facilities and synthetic pitches.

Of the 600 training facilities chosen for sportsmen and women in advance of the 2012 Olympics, more than 50 are at universities. Brunel has been nominated for a dozen different sports, from archery to wrestling.

Sports science has also become one of the most popular degrees, attracting more than 40,000 applications by the end of March.

But the boom in university sport is really about exercise, rather than competition. Even those students with heavy timetables of laboratory work have more leisure time than they are likely to enjoy in later life and they are making increasing use of it.

Karen Rothery, chief executive of British Universities & Colleges Sport, says: “Our national competition programme is the largest of its kind in Europe and institutions offer a range of clubs, classes and activities to suit all levels of participation delivered by professional sporting staff and instructors. Today's student has no excuse not to get involved in the full university experience - health, participation, competition - it's all on offer.”

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