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Athletic youngsters who believe they have what it takes to represent Great Britain at the Rio 2016 Olympics have a week left to sign up to the Talent 2016: Tall and Talented campaign.
The first in a series of Talent 2016 searches to be carried out by the UK Talent Team (a working collaboration between UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport), Tall and Talented is on the look out for men and women between the ages of 15 and 22 who meet the height criteria of over 180cm or 5’11” for women and 190cm or 6’3” for men.
Previous campaigns run by the UK Talent Team have highlighted the benefits of taking a more proactive and scientific approach to matching athletes with their ideal sport. Sporting Giants, Girls4Gold and Pitch2Podium have successfully identified a number of athletes who are all now striving for success either in London or the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014. The time has now come to look even further ahead and ensure the momentum that is building towards London is not lost post 2012, but serves to create a lasting legacy of British sporting success.
Over 1500 young hopefuls have already signed up to the programme, which was launched last month by British rowers Andy Hodge and Katherine Grainger and has also been backed by GB Basketball sensation Luol Deng, and with applications still coming in thick and fast, the deadline for signing up has been extended by one week.
UK Sport Head of Athlete Development Chelsea Warr has urged those who believe they have the potential to come forward. “There are lots of people out there who have no idea how good they could be and put into a structured programme the and with lots of hard work the possibilities are genuine,” she says. “Just put your hand up and come forward.”
Hopefuls have until Monday 23 November to sign up online here. If you’re not tall enough for this campaign but still think you might have what it takes to represent Great Britian at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, register your interest in future campaigns here.
Meanwhile, athletes with experience in martial arts are encouraged to sign up for Talent 2012: Fighting Chance, an opportunity to join a fast track development programme in taekwondo, with the aim of making the podium at the London Olympics in 2012.
UK Sport/ Expatica
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