Champs Seb Coe and Jess Ennis face to face - VIDEO
SHEFFIELD Olympic legend Sebastian Coe has been back to his roots to honour superstar athletes and inspire stars of the future.
And this was the moment when old met new - as Lord Coe, who won the 1500m Olympic gold in 1980 and 1984, chatted to golden girl Jessica Ennis, the city's heptathlon world champ, as he handed her a Yorkshire sporting achievement award.
Olympic silver medallist Peter Elliott, from Rotherham, joined the party at the English Institute of Sport, where he is now a regional director.
It was the first stop for Lord Coe, chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, where he unveiled the venue's new Hall Of Champions - a corridor of huge photographs dedicated to the region's modern sporting greats.
Jessica is up there. So are Olympic gold boxer James DeGale, Rotherham sailor Paul Goodison, silver medal winning synchronized divers Leon Taylor and Peter Waterford, plus two women bobsled world champion
Lord Coe also presented Holly Hodgkinson, aged 17, of Sheffield Academy of Young Leaders in Sport, with an Inspire mark certificate - which honours inspirational sporting activities. He then mingled with children who were running, jumping, throwing and training on the EIS indoor track - pupils from Phillimore Park Primary School, Sheffield, Rotherham and Shawlands Primary in Barnsley.
He met Doncaster's Olympic bronze Taekwondo star Sarah Stevenson, Rotherham's Paralympic wheelchair basketball medalist Kevin Hayes and Barnsley's table tennis paralympian Sue Gilroy.
Then he called in at his old school, Tapton High - where he met other children inspired to follow in his sporting footsteps, his former sports teacher, David Jackson, current head David Bowes and GB paralympian Farrell Antony, who was there coaching table tennis.
A visit to Ponds Forge followed, to chat to swimmers, divers and management who are all taking the plunge to bring more world titles back to Sheffield.
The visit, organised by LOCOG and Yorkshire Gold, the region's delivery partner for London 2012, to make the most of the benefits of the 2012 Games.
Lord Coe told The Star: "I've met some inspiring people - but all of them have been inspired by this city. It is an inspirational city. The first person I saw when I arrived at the EIS was Jessica Ennis, then Peter Elliott, the whole of the British boxing team, all the guys driving our volleyball ambitions, then our wheelchair basket ball players and, to boot, lots of kids from South Yorkshire schools involved in a mini-competition.
"You would be hard put to go anywhere else in the country and find a city that has invested more in sport in the last 20 years.
"It really all kicked off with the World Student Games. That, in itself, was controversial. But the one thing nobody can argue about is the legacy of those games has been profound for the city, with facilities that are the envy of not just cities in this country but cities around the world."
Jessica Ennis, now training for the World Indoor Championships in March, said of his visit: "It was great to see him again and celebrate this occasion. The last time I saw him I was on a podium and he was presenting me with a medal. He's achieved so much in his career and he's an inspiration to so many athletes. I hope I can achieve something like that in the future."
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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