12k schools in School Games as Flintoff and Lewis become sports ambassadors
Government reveals support for school sports competition and new ’Sport is GREAT’ campaign.
Half of English schools will compete in the new Sainsbury’s School Games competition, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced today.
More than 100,000 children will take part in the competition, with gold medallists receiving an Olympic or Paralympic ticket to celebrate their success. A map published today shows the breakdown of how many schools from each region have signed up.
Tickets for the finals, which will be held on the Olympic Park, are also set to sell out with more than 80 per cent of the 30,000 tickets snapped up within days of going on sale, Mr Hunt said.
“It’s fantastic to have half the schools in England signed up to the School Games in the competition’s first year,” the Culture Secretary said.
He added: “All the sceptics who said this project wouldn’t take off have been proved wrong - schools are as sport mad as the rest of the country this year.”
His announcement came as the Prime Minister launched ‘Sport is GREAT’, part of the wider GREAT campaign promoting the best of the UK.
David Cameron confirmed that Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis and former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff will be ambassadors for the campaign, helping to promote the UK around the world.
“Sport plays a huge role in our national life, particularly so this year,” Denise Lewis said. “I am proud to have represented my country at the highest level, and I am delighted to be an Ambassador for the GREAT campaign, alongside other Great British sportsmen and women. Through the 2012 Olympics and beyond, I look forward to telling the world what an amazing place this is to play and experience great sport.”