International students in the South East will play a crucial role in attracting athletes to the region to use pre-Games training facilities ahead of London 2012.
The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) has launched a new scheme, South East Student Ambassadors for the 2012 Games, to help promote the region’s facilities to the World’s Olympic and Paralympic Committees.
The scheme gives students from different countries studying in the South East the opportunity to develop strong links with their home countries.
Already, Malawi, Colombia and Barbados have signed memoranda of understanding that their athletes will use the South East’s pre-Games Training Camps.
SEEDA is working with universities in the South East to find 207 ambassadors to represent all of the Olympic and Paralympic nations.
SEEDA’s South East 2012 Manager Paddy Herlihy said: “The Ambassador Scheme will give the students invaluable experience and will also help them develop a high personal profile both in their home countries and in South East England.”
The Student Ambassadors recently met for the first time at the Eton College Rowing Centre at Dorney Lake, the site for the 2012 Games’ rowing and sprint canoeing events.
Singapore ambassador Jermaine Loo, who was among the students who attended said “Being so involved in the 2012 Games is really exciting, especially considering all of the people I’ll be meeting and working with both in the South East and throughout the world”.