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2012 project to help deprived children across world play sport
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent03.11.09
More than a million children in the Middle East will get free sports lessons as part of the London 2012 charity mission, it emerged today.
Palestinian refugees, young women and the disabled will be prioritised as part of a scheme to remove barriers to youth sport in developing countries.
International Inspiration aims to deliver on a pledge in the Olympic bid to use the 2012 Games to create a sports legacy in the UK and beyond.
Launching the project in Amman in Jordan, British Paralympic legend Dame Tanni Grey Thompson said the scheme showed how the Games can deliver a sports legacy.
She said: "I've seen and experienced how the Olympic and Paralympic Games can transform young lives and inspire young people to great things, but I believe that London 2012 is doing something unique.
"Through International Inspiration the transformative power of sport and the Olympics will be unleashed for the benefit of millions of children, young people and their communities."
Operated by children's charity UNICEF, British Council and UK Sport, the project has been piloted in five countries including Brazil and Azerbaijan. Games chiefs aim to extend it to 20 countries by 2012, helping about 12 million children.
With £25million funding provided by the Department for International Development, football's Premier League and the British Council, the scheme was recently granted Olympic copyright and is expected to be adopted by future Olympic cities, including Rio de Janeiro, host in 2016.
Jordan, which enjoys relative stability in the Middle East and is ruled by a sports-mad royal family, was chosen for the potential of sport to improve life for its unusually young population.
Among the beneficiaries will be boys at the 800-pupil Souf Boys Elementary School which serves the Palestinian refugee camp near Amman. To help overcome the lack of sports facilities, the charity will train PE teachers to make the most of their playground.
London 2012 will also fund coaches from Right to Play, specialists in using sport to promote peace. Over the next three years, they hope to see an improvement in classroom performance and help pupils integrate into mainstream society.
Right to Play co-ordinator Mohannad Shishani said: "The Olympics will have a huge impact on this neighbourhood by using sport to help kids gain confidence and learn social skills."
Inspiration will also focus on improving gender inequality in Jordan, where girls are normally restricted to playing sport indoors segregated from boys.
Pupils at the girls-only Queen Zain Government school in Amman will compare their experiences with a twinned school in Northern Ireland. Pupil Heba Hawaineh, 17, said: "It is difficult to take part in sport because you have to get your parents approval but it is up to us to take action and participate."
