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Athletics

British universities boosting Olympic medal prospects

23/07/2008

Following the finalising of the Great Britain team for the Beijing Olympics British Universities and Colleges Sport (Bucs) has hailed its influence on the current crop of athletes.

Bucs claims 57 per cent of the athletes competing for Great Britain at the Games are either students or graduates.

The organisation believes the investment made in top class facilities by the country's universities has aided the success of the athletes in making the team.

178 of the 313 athletes in Team GB are university students or graduates; compared with 156 students or graduates who went to Athens in 2004.

Karen Rothery, chief executive of Bucs, is pleased with the increase in the number of athletes the university system has helped produce but thinks the number of competitors who are truly benefitting from the facilities is much greater.

She said: "What this figure doesn't show is the number of Beijing athletes who train alongside students at university due to the quality of facilities and coaching on offer."

Ms Rothery said Bucs' aim now was to build on their current success to help British athletes achieve their goals of competing at the London Olympics in four years' time.

She added: "Our sights are now set on London 2012; with our members we'll be looking at how we can help more athletes combine their sporting careers with their academic aspirations to achieve success on and off the field."

Among the athletes travelling to Beijing who have benefitted from the Bucs scheme are; the entire women's rowing team, swimmer Liam Tancock, tri-athlete Alastair Brownlee and sprinter Simeon Williamson.