Littlehampton students’ sporting chance to meet Lord Coe

The year-12 students had just finished a day trip to the Olympic Village, to find out more about preparations for this summer’s games, and were taking a break in the Stratford City shopping centre, when they stumbled across Lord Coe.

The chairman of the London 2012 organising committee, was giving a press conference in the shopping complex at the time, and took a moment to pose with the AS-level geography students.

The teens then had the chance to chat with Lord Coe, an Olympic double gold medal-winning athlete, about the 2012 games.

Academy spokeswoman, Judy Nanson said that after seeing the athletic stadium, the velodrome, and the aquatic centre, the group of students took a trip to the shopping centre for “some retail therapy”.

She added: “It was here that they met Lord Coe.”

A number of GCSE and AS-level students, studying physical education and geography, took the trip to the capital on Friday, as part of their studies into the impact this year’s games would have on the country.

The visit took place exactly six months before the opening ceremony is scheduled to begin and on the very day that the Olympic Village was being handed over to organisers of the games.

Judy said: “Students learned about the strict environmental standards that the contractors had to meet in the construction of the main stadia, and about the ongoing social, economic and environmental legacy of the facilities.”

A budget of about £9.3bn has been allocated to building the Olympic facilities nationwide, for an anticipated global audience of billions.