Bath contingent to compete at London 2012 Olympics
World champions Dai Greene and Mhairi Spence head an impressive list of 25 athletes preparing to compete at the London 2012 Olympic Games who train at the University of Bath.
Athletes who train at the University will compete in seven different sports at the Games – athletics, badminton, beach volleyball, judo, modern pentathlon, rhythmic gymnastics and swimming.
The vast majority of Bath-based athletes at London 2012 will represent Great Britain, with one each for Egypt and Ghana.
Dai Greene will be aiming to add Olympic gold to an impressive collection that already features the World Championships gold he won last year and the Commonwealth and European titles he collected in 2010. He is joined in the 400m hurdles by talented 20-year-old Jack Green, a Sports Performance student. The final takes place on Monday 6 August.
Greene and Green are coached at the University of Bath by Malcolm Arnold, UK Athletics National Event Coach Hurdles, whose track record of Olympic success already includes golds for Ugandan 400m hurdler John Akii-Bua at Munich in 1972 and for Jason Gardener in the 4x100m at Athens in 2004.
Modern pentathlete Mhairi Spence, a University of Bath Coach Education and Sports Development graduate, competes on the very last day of the London 2012 Olympics alongside University of Bath French and Politics student Samantha Murray. The pair won gold and bronze respectively at the World Championships in Rome in May.
Lawrence Clarke, the 110m hurdles gold medallist at the 2009 European Junior Championships, and Andrew Pozzi, silver medallist in the same discipline at the 2011 European Juniors, also train in Bath, along with swimmer Michael Jamieson, 200m breaststroke silver medallist at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, who trains at British Swimming’s Bath Intensive Training Centre.
Stephen Baddeley, Director of Sport at the University of Bath, said: “We’re delighted to have such a strong presence at the London 2012 Olympic Games. It’s a testament to hard work that athletes have put in.
“I’m sure the athletes would be the first to acknowledge the contribution made by their own sport’s coaches and the support staff on site, including the English Institute of Sport staff based at the University of Bath.
“I’d like to congratulate athletes on their selection and wish them the very best of luck at the Games. I hope their performances will be an inspiration for future generations of athletes.
“We also have a number of our support staff assisting at London 2012 and we will be proud to see them making a contribution to the Games.”
The full list of University of Bath-based athletes competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games is:
Athletics
Eilidh Child – Great Britain, 400m hurdles
Lawrence Clarke – Great Britain, 110m hurdles
Jack Green – Great Britain, 400m hurdles & 4x400m relay
Dai Greene – Great Britain, 400m hurdles & 4x400m relay
Andrew Pozzi – Great Britain, 110m hurdles
Danny Talbot (Sports Performance student) – Great Britain, 4x100m relay
Badminton
Hadia Hosny El Said (MSc in Medical Biosciences student) – Egypt, women’s singles
Beach volleyball
Zara Dampney (PG Dip International Development graduate) – Great Britain
Shauna Mullin (MSc Marketing graduate) – Great Britain
Judo
Emmanuel Nartey – Ghana, under-73kg
Modern pentathlon
Samantha Murray (French & Politics student) – Great Britain
Mhairi Spence (Coach Education & Sports Development graduate) – Great Britain
Sam Weale (Sports Technology graduate) – Great Britain
Nick Woodbridge – Great Britain
Rhythmic gymnastics
Georgina Cassar – Great Britain, group competition
Jade Faulkner – Great Britain, group competition
Frankie Fox – Great Britain, group competition
Lynne Hutchison – Great Britain, group competition
Louisa Pouli – Great Britain, group competition
Rachel Smith – Great Britain, group competition
Swimming
Michael Jamieson – Great Britain, 100m breaststroke & 200m breaststroke
Siobahn-Marie O’Connor – Great Britain, 100m breaststroke
Stacey Tadd – Great Britain, 200m breaststroke
Chris Walker-Hebborn – Great Britain, 100m backstroke & 200m backstroke
Andrew Willis – Great Britain, 200m breaststroke
In addition to the athletes above, Gemma Howell is representing Great Britain in the under-63kg judo competition – she will start a degree in Sport and Exercise Science at the University after the Games.
And a number of University of Bath graduates will also be in action or on standby at the Games.
They are:
Athletics
Lee Merrien (HND Coach Education & Sports Performance graduate) – Great Britain, marathon
Marilyn Okoro (French & Politics graduate) – Great Britain, 4x400m relay
Fencing
Natalia Sheppard (Mathematics & Computing graduate) – Great Britain, individual & team foil
Hockey
Richard Mantell (Sports & Exercise Science graduate) – Great Britain, men’s reserve
Judo
Gemma Gibbons (Sports Performance graduate) – Great Britain, under-78kg
Rowing
Marcus Bateman (Sports Technology graduate) – Great Britain, men’s open weight reserve
Adam Freeman-Pask (Natural Sciences graduate) – Great Britain, men’s lightweight reserve
Heather Stanning (Sports Technology graduate) – Great Britain, women’s pair
For biographies of the athletes and a schedule of when they compete, please see Team Bath’s Olympic and Paralympic homepage at http://www.teambath.com/sport/olympic-paralympic/
For further information please contact the Team Bath press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or by email at press@matchtight.co.uk
You can also find out more about Team Bath at www.teambath.com , follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teambath or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/teambath
The University of Bath is The Sunday Times University of the Year 2011/12.
