Olympic Games hopefuls at opening of University’s £6.5m Olympia Building

Two top athletes at the University of Teesside will tell the Prime Minister of their aspirations of representing Great Britain in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens when they meet Tony Blair at the official opening of the University’s £6.5m campus sporting showpiece – the Olympia Building.

The Prime Minister will officially open the new University’s Centre for Sport after seeing some of the sophisticated laboratories inside, including the state-of-the-art environmental chamber.

During the visit he will meet 18-year-old disabled athlete Sarah Loughran, from Ingleby Barwick, Stockton, who hopes to compete in the Paralympics, and 30-year-old Anthony Borsumato, from Acklam, Middlesbrough, who is working hard to qualify for the 400 metres hurdles in the Olympic Games.

Boro-fan Sarah, still elated from her trip to Cardiff on Sunday to see Middlesbrough’s Football Club clinch the Carling Cup, trains six days a week with Tanni Grey-Thompson, Britain’s best-known paralympian, who lives in Redcar. (Tanni is an honorary University of Teesside graduate).

Sarah said: “Tanni’s husband, Ian, is technical director of the GB Paralympic squad and I will be going to Atlanta with her in June to get used to competing in the heat. I think the Olympia Building is fantastic and I am looking forward to training in the temperature-controlled environmental chamber. I can get my wheel-chair inside and train on rollers in temperatures up to 40 degrees centigrade. That will be ideal preparation for Athens if I am lucky enough to be selected to represent Great Britain at the Games.” (Tanni has also looked at possibly using the environmental chamber).

Sarah, who has spina bifida, received a £850 award from the University’s Elite Athlete Bursary scheme, after starting her BA honours degree in Television Production Professional Practice. The scheme offers financial support to the most talented sports men and women at the University so they can continue their sporting careers while studying. Sarah’s bursary went on equipment. Her wheelchair cost £2,000 and pair of rear wheels can set her back £1,500!

She took up athletics at the age of 11 and was part of a demonstration by wheelchair athletes at the Commonwealth trials in Manchester in 2002. “I have my last competition to know if I will be able to qualify for Athens on my 19th birthday, on 15th May. I’m training with Tanni, doing a weekly average of 70 miles and going out in all kinds of weather, including snow storms.”

Sarah will be putting the University’s environmental chamber through its paces when her wheelchair is put on rollers inside the brand new facility during the official opening.

The Prime Minister will also meet the University’s second Olympic Games hopeful, Anthony Borsumato, whose sport is the 400 metres hurdles. He first started running at the age of 11, and won his first national title - the English Schools 400 metres at the age of 16. “It was my first really big meeting, and the win was completely unexpected.”

He won his first European Vest, aged 24, in the European Cup in St. Petersburg, and devoted himself full-time to athletics, gaining sponsorship from Nike and the Lottery. He took part in the heats for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and describes the atmosphere as “brilliant”. He was also involved in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. But at the world championships last year in Paris, he was injured, hitting a hurdle and breaking his ankle in five places.

“The race was on its way to becoming one of my career highlights, I was in the best shape of my life. In the semi-final I felt I’d ran the race of my life in the first 100 metres. It was such a big shock, and wondering how long it would take to recover. Only now, am I fit enough to compete again.”

Since then, he has undergone six months of Physiotherapy with UK Athletics and sports massage at Middlesbrough Football Club to get fit for selection trials in Manchester. Before this, he flies to Cyprus with the GB Olympic squad, to acclimatise to the temperatures in case of selection for Athens. And again, the University’s environmental chamber could help. His ambition is to reach the final in Athens and compete against the world number one, Felix Sanchez Dominica.

Another Boro fanatic, he also saw Middlesbrough FC triumph over Bolton at Cardiff, and trains for up to 20 hours a week under the supervision of his coach and father Andrew. He is on a one-year Master of Science degree in Multi-Media Applications and received £500 from the University’s Elite Athlete Bursary Scheme.

Anthony said of the Olympia Building and his course: “When I first saw it I thought it looked like a great building. The MSc has been perfect. I’m able to study in my home town, the University is vibrant and the campus really developed in recent years. For my final project, I want to explore something that links technology with athletics.”

---