Double Olympic gold medallist Daley Thompson has endorsed Sheffield's state-of-the-art facilities as the perfect breeding ground for young athletes in the run up to the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012.
Daley, regarded as one of the country's greatest all-round athletes in history, was impressed by the prestigious English Institute of Sport-Sheffield when he visited the venue for an exclusive sports seminar.
Daley said: "The English Institute of Sport-Sheffield is one of the best facilities of its kind in the country, if not the world. I'd never visited the venue before, but it's absolutely brilliant and you only have to take a look round to see that everything is in place here to help Britain's athletes succeed at 2012.
"A lot of countries are struggling at the moment with not enough kids coming into sports like athletics, but facilities like EIS-Sheffield can only help to reverse that trend. This country deserves the very best and that's what it's got.
"In my experience if you give people a positive atmosphere to work in, you get positive results. I certainly see myself coming back to Sheffield over the next six years, for events like today, to help more of Britain's young athletes in the run up to the Olympics in 2012."
Head of Sport and Director of Olympic and Paralympic Strategy for the City Wayne Coyle, said: "The visit of an Olympic legend like Daley Thompson is a major boost to the city as it prepares itself to become a hotbed for young sporting talent in the run up to the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012.
"Daley brings with him a wealth of experience and I'm sure his visit will prove to be a real inspiration to some of the city's rising stars."
Decathlon legend Daley trained with fourteen of the region's most talented young athletes during the seminar at EIS-Sheffield. He was on hand to offer the youngsters inspiration, instruction and the once in a life time opportunity to train with a double-gold medal winning Olympic athlete.
Notes to editors:
The Sheffield 2012 Steering Group was formed to look at how Sheffield can maximise the benefits with regards to sport, culture, economic, social and environmental objectives from the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
The group has identified various strands of opportunity associated with the 2012 Games development of sports participation in Sheffield, the staging of major events, the hosting of international training camps, progressing sports business opportunities, athlete development and elite programmes and tourism benefits.
Key players from across South Yorkshire including representatives from the South Yorkshire Local Authorities, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield International Venues, SportsPulse, Sheffield First for Investment, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry, South Yorkshire Destination Management Partnerships make up the group.
The group feeds into the Nations and Regions Steering Group via regional steering groups including the Yorkshire 2012 Steering Group which includes members from Yorkshire Culture, Sport England, Yorkshire Forward, Yorkshire Tourism and covers Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford, York and Hull.
Released on behalf of Sheffield 2012 Steering Group by HR Media Ltd. For more information contact Alex Mills at HR Media on 0114 221 0380.