Stephen said: “I am sure the GB Special Olympics Team will put up a first class showing in Shanghai. Events like the Special Olympics show everyday people with learning disabilities what can be achieved through sport, and the benefits of getting active. Sport England is working to get two million people doing more sport by 2012. We want to open up opportunities for people from all backgrounds to take part in sport and help us realise our ambition”.

Top athletes representing Special Olympics Team GB 2007 will be flying to Shanghai this October to represent their country in the 12th Special Olympics World Summer Games, the world’s largest sporting event of the year.

The country’s top learning disabled athletes will be flying out on 26 September to compete against 7,000 Special Olympics athletes from 169 countries at the World Summer Games 2-11 October 2007. The event includes 40,000 volunteers, 3,500 event officials and thousands of families, spectators and journalists from every continent.

The 159 Special Olympics Team GB 2007 athletes were selected from 2,500 competitors who competed at the Special Olympics GB National Summer Games in Glasgow in July 2005 and represent each of the organisation’s 19 local regions across England, Scotland and Wales.

For media enquiries about Sport England’s work, please contact Chris Rolfe, Press and PR Officer at Sport England, on 020 7273 1593.

For media enquiries about the GB Special Olympics Team, please contact Jane Silverman, National PR Director, on 07900 278111.

www.specialolympicsgb.org