Your gift in action
- Jeremy prepares for Xtreme Everest expedition
- Innovation at the Institute of Making
- Louise's story - Impact Studentship
- Two ‘Lucky Dogs’: From a five minute film to a four month adventure
- Alumni giving supports rising sports stars
- Celebrating student support
- Hosting our first Paralympic Sports Taster Day thanks to your support!
- Redevelopment of Lewis's Building supported by alumni and friends
- Galton's Kantsaywhere
- Helping to rebuild Haiti
- Grant Museum of Zoology becomes 21st century ‘museum laboratory’
- UCL Laws mooting teams able to attend prestigious competitions
- Alumni and friends help UCL research healthier cities
- UCL alumni: the lifeline that helped me reach my potential
- Supporting women's health and international development in Malawi
- Helping communities in Peru to construct their future
- UCL alumni and friends raising the bar
- New uses for old spaces
- "I am so grateful"
- Enhancing the student experience
- Help a student with financial concerns
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Alumni help UCL student sports stars realise their potential
28 October 2012
Donations from
UCL alumni and friends have enabled some of the sporting talent amongst our
student community to reach world-class potential. The UCLU Elite Athlete Programme has been
co-funded by a UCL union grant and by the generosity of UCL alumni and friends.
The programme, launched in 2010, forms part of UCL and UCLU’s commitment to supporting students in achieving sporting excellence alongside their academic endeavours. The UCLU initiative is available for current UCL students competing in Olympic or World Championship sports with world class performance potential. The Elite Athlete Programme offers students Bloomsbury Fitness Membership, physiotherapy and osteopath sessions, personalised training programs, nutritional support and funding towards the cost of equipment and travel.
There are currently 12 UCL students benefiting from the programme. Amongst them are Daniel Grant, a first year Medical Student, who is ranked number 1 handball player in the UK in both singles and doubles and Alice Goudie, a second year geography student and England International Karate Fighter who has been the National karate Champion for the last 3 years. Alice also represented Great Britain in the International University Sports Federation World Championships in 2012, coming 4th place.
UCL alumna and British athletics champion, Abigail Irozuru was supported by the Elite Athlete Programme from 2010 to 2012 whilst studying law here at UCL. Here Abigail tells us what the UCLU Elite Athlete has meant for her:
“I owe continual
thanks to UCLU Elite for the support they have given me throughout the past
couple of years. I was provided with
excellent training facilities at the Bloomsbury Fitness Centre, given access to
physiotherapy treatment, nutritional information and an amazing coach. These advantages have been integral to my
performance this year, and it has been a weight off my shoulders to have found
such quality services and funding. The
support culminated in a world-class level of jumping, at Olympic A standard,
and the opportunity to represent Great Britain at a Senior International
level. The only negative: that I’m no
longer studying at UCL!”
The success of the programme is especially pertinent in a year when UCL has celebrated two of our alumni achieving medal status at the London Olympic Games; Rob Williams (BSc Biotechnology 2006) won silver in the lightweight men’s four rowing and Christine Ohuruogu (UCL Linguistics 2005) won silver in the Women’s 400 metres. With the support of UCL alumni and friends the Elite Athletes Programme has the potential to push an even greater number of UCL students towards world class sporting excellence.
