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Gold medal winning advice for London’s young swimmers

22 May 2015

Olympic gold medallist Duncan Goodhew MBE was on hand to give some gold medal winning advice to London’s primary school children on Monday 9th March 2015.

Duncan visited St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Highgate in the morning before a group of lucky competition winners from St Joseph’s took to the pool at Archway Leisure Centre receiving once-in-a-lifetime advice from the gold medal winning swimmer.

The Olympian, who won the 100 metre breaststroke at the 1980 Olympic Games, is an ambassador for Premier Sport, the UK’s leading provider of physical education and sports coaching services to schools, whose mission is to inspire young people through PE and sport.

During Duncan’s visit to St Joseph’s, the pupils received an inspirational assembly hearing about the gold medallists’ highs and lows during his ‘golden’ years. Duncan also addressed the importance of children participating in competition from a young age, reinforcing Osted’s guidance for competitive school sport. The children got the opportunity to see his Olympic gold medal and the torch he carried ahead of London 2012.

Duncan will visited Archway Leisure Centre where a group of competition winners from St Joseph’s took to the pool under the watchful eye of Duncan, who challenged the group to complete each of their required swimming distances before the end of the school year. He was also on hand to provide some gold medal winning guidance.

Duncan commented: “I was absolutely thrilled to meet the children and teachers at Joseph’s Catholic Primary School. There’s been a lot of talk about competitive school sport in the media, which I was keen to promote to the pupils and teachers. My achievement in the pool is what I’m best known for, so I was thrilled to offer my advice and guidance when the children swapped the school uniform for their swimming goggles at Archway Leisure Centre.

I’m encouraged that the Premier Sport team are working in partnership with the school, to support the non sport children as well as creating future Olympic stars through competitive sport,”

Deputy Head Teacher, Angela Noronha, from St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School commented:

“The school was delighted to welcome Duncan Goodhew. It was a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to meet an Olympian and receive advice and guidance from such an expert in the field. We  also enjoyed hearing Duncan speak about his own childhood and about what inspired him to succeed. Hopefully it will motivate our pupils to strive to achieve their very best whether in swimming or in another aspect of their life. St Joseph’s has been working with Premier Sport for several years now and we are extremely grateful to Premier Sport for making this possible for our pupils.”

Duncan is a founding ambassador of Premier Sport and has supported the company for over a decade. Commenting on his role with the company, Duncan comments: “Premier Sport is coordinating and supporting a team over 800 highly trained, qualified Activity Professionals across the country. This initiative will provide children with a higher quality PE, sport and physical activity.”


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