Scholarships for future Olympic heroes

A programme which will see talented young sports people offered £10,000 scholarships to help them become Olympic and Paralympic medallists, has been announced by culture secretary Tessa Jowell.

£1m per year will be set aside by Sport England to provide financial support for around 100 young people aged between 12 and 18. Particular priority will be given to those from disadvantaged backgrounds who would otherwise be unable to realise their sporting potential.

From next April, Sport England will distribute the scholarships to both able-bodied and disabled young people who are nominated by their governing bodies and meet strict criteria set down by the DCMS.

“These Olympic scholarships are intended for the best young prospects, some of whom are young people of only 12 or 13 today, but with their sights on 2012,” said Jowell.

“Awards of up to £10,000 a year will pay for the cost of travel, for coaching, motivation and nutritional advice to ensure that talent – too much of which falls by the wayside through lack of the means to develop it – will be rewarded.”

The scholarships are designed to build on the DCMS’s Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS), created to help sports people reach success.

Roger Draper, chief executive of Sport England, said: “Funding and investment for sport must be channelled into developing our talented sports people as well as improving our infrastructure and facilities.

“Sport England’s main goals are to increase participation and boost international sporting success and this scheme will help build on much of the work underway. We very much hope to see people from this scheme competing in London in 2012.’

London 2012 bid chair, Sebastian Coe, said the scholarship programme was great news for the country’s aspirations of hosting the Olympics. “I am delighted for the young athletes who will benefit from this scheme in the years to come,” he said. “It is vital to invest now to deliver even more medals in 2012.”