Australian Youth Olympic Festival

   
Two Old Dauntseians, Lewis Prosser (OD 02-06) and Ben White (OD 04-07), formed part of Team GB, which has just finished competing in the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) in Sydney.

Ben's outstanding performance for the GB Fencing team means he brings home two gold medals: one for the Mens' Individual and one for the Mens' Team.

Lewis played in the GB Hockey Team which clinched bronze with an impressive 5-2 victory over Malaysia on Sunday 18th January.

Organised by the Australian Olympic Committee, the Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) is a bi-annual multi-sport event for Olympic aspirants between the ages of 13 and 19. Importantly, it has the patronage of the International Olympic Committee and is very much a springboard for potential Olympic Champions. The event began on 14th January, and Team GB left Sydney five days later with a tremendous haul of 26 gold, 16 silver and 26 bronze medals - a total of 68 medals. Including Great Britain, 23 countries were represented, with 1550 athletes competing in 15 Olympic sports.

Team GB's Chef de Mission, Mark England commented "I'm delighted that sports such as archery, diving, fencing, hockey, shooting and triathlon have real depth in talent at this junior level". This is a very significant achievement for Ben and Lewis, who can be proud to have been selected to represent their country, and to have contributed to the substantial success of Team GB 2009.