Cameron Shores Up Sporting Credentials As Seb Coe Becomes Olympics Legacy Ambassador

'Britain Has Looked In The Mirror And Likes What It Sees'
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David Cameron has said Britain showed it could deliver in hosting the 2012 Olympics as he pledged to make sure the impact of the games was "not just for summer".

Speaking in Downing Street the prime minister announced Locog chairman Seb Coe would become the UK's Olympics Legacy Ambassador.

Cameron told journalists there would be a sporting legacy, an economic legacy, a physical legacy - with the Olympic park put to "good use" - and a volunteering legacy.

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David Cameron pledged the Games legacy would not just be for summer

"This is not a country whose time has been but a country whose time has come," the prime minister said.

"We're still only at the midpoint of London 2012 but even at this stage on thing is clear. This is a truly great country. Over the past couple of weeks we've looked in the mirror and we've liked what we have seen as a country.

"It's a Britain where a boy born in Somalia, Mo Farah, can come here, seize opportunities and run his way into the nation's heart," he said.

"It's a Britain where we cheer ourselves hoarse, not just for Team GB but Team Jamaica."

Both the prime minister and Lord Coe thanked those involved in the planning and execution of London 2012.

On Sunday Cameron announced that funding for Olympic sports in the UK has been guaranteed for the next four years – but experts have warned that without investing in school sports, Britain could fail to capitalise on the legacy of London 2012.

The row over ditching school sports targets intensified after Mayor of London Boris Johnson suggested kids should be doing two hours of PE not just every week, but every day, and a ComRes poll for Sunday newspaper The People finding nearly three in four want the government to increase cash for sport in schools.

On Sunday morning culture secretary Jeremy Hunt told LBC the government were committed to sport in school “but we think the approach of the last government – that everything could be solved with a pot of money and a target didn't work in so many areas, it would be a mistake to say it'll work in sport as well.”