Students light up Olympic Stadium

University of Wolverhampton students will be competing at the brand new Olympic Stadium this weekend in a national athletics championships.

The students will be taking part in the British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) Visa Outdoor Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium in London from 4 -7 May, 2012.

They will be up against students from universities around the country at the London 2012 test event, which is the culmination of this year’s Universities Week, and 40,000 spectators are expected at Saturday night’s event.

Wolverhampton students competing include the University’s Sportsperson of the Year Jarryd Dunn, who won gold at the 400m at the BUCS Indoor Athletics Championships in February.

Other strong medal hopes include David Lima in the Men’s 200m, who won silver at this event last year, and Jade Moore in the Women’s Discus.

There will also be competitors in the Men’s 100m and Long Jump and the Women’s 100m, 200m, Triple Jump and Long Jump.

Faye Haworth, Student Sports Coordinator from the Students’ Union, said: “It’s really exciting for our students to get the chance to compete at the Olympic Stadium ahead of this summer’s Games. We’ve got some strong hopefuls so we will all have our fingers crossed for them and we’ll be cheering them on.

“It should be an awe-inspiring experience for the competitors, and maybe one day some of them will get to line up in a future Olympic Games!”

Director of Sport, Mike Chamberlain, added: “We’re really proud of our sportsmen and women’s achievements and getting to compete at the new Olympic Stadium should give them extra inspiration to succeed.”

Taking place in the Olympic Stadium from 4 - 7 May, the BUCS Visa Outdoor Athletics Championships will see up to 1,200 athletes from all over the UK competing for glory across 15 disciplines in four days.

The Championships are a London 2012 test event as part of the London Prepares series.

Universities Week aims to increase public awareness of the wide and varied role of the UK’s universities. This year’s campaign will look at the contribution that universities make – and have always made – to the Olympic movement, the sports industry and society as whole.

Throughout the week universities across the UK will be showcasing the diverse ways in which universities have engaged with the Olympic and Paralympic Games– from sports training, research and development to the university-led Cultural Olympiad and volunteering projects that will support the London 2012 sporting events.

For more information visit: www.BUCS.org

Details about Universities Week are available at: www.universitiesweek.org.uk

ENDS

For more information please contact Vickie Warren in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322736