LONDON, October 19: Lawrence Okoye, 20-year old rising star of UK athletics and British all-time record holder in the discus, has today been named as the latest ambassador and member of the Athlete Commission for London's bid to host the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
London-born Okoye, 6'6" and 22 stone, is lending his support to his home city's bid to stage athletics' premier global event in London's Olympic Stadium in 2017. Okoye shot to prominence this past July with an age-19 world record and British all-time record throw of 67.63m, taking advantage of his prodigious talent since switching focus to discus after a stellar school rugby career.
As the youngest member of the London 2017 bid team's Athlete Commission, Okoye will have the unique opportunity to influence London's bid for a championships that, at age 25 in the summer of 2017, he will hope to be peaking at. Okoye joins fellow Brits Denise Lewis (Chairman) and Jason Gardener (Vice-Chairman) on the Athlete Commission, as well as international stars Haile Gebrselassie, Jesse Williams and Fabiana Murer.
Lawrence Okoye said: "As a Londoner I am very excited and passionate about the future of athletics in my home city and I leapt at the opportunity to help shape our bid for the 2017 IAAF World Championships. London has so much to offer in terms of tradition, fan support for the world's best athletes and a fantastic new Olympic Stadium. It would be a dream come true to be able to host and compete in the world championships in front of an incredible London crowd in 2017."
Ed Warner UKA Chairman said: "Lawrence is one of the UK's most exciting athletics prospects with remarkable talent and a very bright future ahead of him. To have him backing London 2017 is a great boost for us and the insight that he can provide as a young Londoner on the Athlete Commission will be hugely beneficial. We have built our bid around the ultimate athlete experience and the involvement of a potential star of 2017 like Lawrence, alongside the leadership of Denise Lewis, will further ensure that we fulfil that promise."
The London 2017 bid, which has been put together by UK Athletics, DCMS, the Mayor of London, London & Partners and UK Sport, will be looking to secure the votes of the 27 IAAF Council Members before the decision on who will host the Championships is made on November 11th.
For more information, contact: james.mckeown@pitch.co.uk
As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.
These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.
Your complete source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
