Wednesday, February 6, 2008
2008 BG Triathlon Scholarship Recipients Announced
Seven athletes and two coaches receive presitigous scholarship
Vancouver , Canada (February 6, 2008) - The 2008 BG Scholarship athlete and coach recipients have been announced by the International Triathlon Union (ITU). Applications for scholarships were submitted to ITU Sport Development and seven athletes and two coaches were selected. The athletes are: Barbara Riveros from Chile; Leonardo Chacon from Costa Rica; Zvonko Cubric from Croatia; Javier Cuevas from Dominican Republic, Dan Alterman from Israel; Yuliya Sapunov from Ukraine and Christopher Felgate from Zimbabwe. The coaches are: Zeljko Bijuk from Croatia and Atherton Squire from Zimbabwe .
"The opportunities this programme affords the recipients through the scholarships is invaluable as it allows the athletes to use the best coaches, training locations and equipment in order to meet the high demands of competition at this level," said ITU Sport Development Director, Libby Burrell. "In 2007 we saw the scholarship athletes achieve superb results and we expect to see similar results this year as we prepare for the Beijing Olympic Games."
BG Scholarships offer the opportunity to the recipients to build towards the pinnacle of the sport, the Olympic Games, by placing each athlete under special ITU supervision to support progressive development to elite standards with the ultimate goal being participation at an Olympic level.
"Each of the athletes selected to receive the 2008 BG Scholarship has shown the potential to achieve at the highest level in the sport and we look forward to see their progress through the year as part of the BG Scholarship Programme," said Burrell.
About BG Scholarships
The primary objective of the scholarship programme is to identify and provide support, resources and expertise to athletes from emerging/developing National Federations to compete at the World Cup, World Championship and Olympic level.
The primary objectives are:
- To increase the number of NF's and athletes coming from emerging/developing NF's competing at Continental Championships and ITU World Championships at a junior, U23 and Elite level.
- To increase the number of female athletes from emerging/developing NF's represented at Continental Championships and ITU World Championships at a junior, U23 and Elite level.
Project Outline
Athletes selected for the scholarship programme will be carefully 'placed' in a programme commensurate with their specific needs in the interest of their progressive development to an elite level. Placements will vary in duration and form depending on the specific outline of the programme developed by the NF in conjunction with the ITU SD Director deemed to be conducive to the athletes/coach's development needs.
Target Group
The target group will be athletes from emerging/developing National Federations who have already shown competence at an ITU Continental Cup level and are looking to make the step up to top level training and racing but need support in order to do so. These athletes should be seen as Olympic prospects by their National Federations.
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About International Triathlon Union (ITU):
The International Triathlon Union is the world governing body for the Olympic sport of Triathlon and all related MultiSport disciplines: Duathlon, Aquathlon and Winter Triathlon. ITU was founded in 1989 at the first ITU Congress in Avignon , France and has maintained its headquarters in Vancouver , Canada since then. It now has over 120 affiliated National Federations around the world and is the youngest International Federation in the Olympics. Triathlon was awarded Olympic status in 1994. ITU is proudly committed to supporting the development of the sport worldwide through strong relationships with continental and national federations, working with its partners to offer a balanced sport development programme from grass roots to a high performance level. For more information, visit: www.triathlon.org
About BG Group:
· BG Group plc is a global natural gas business. Active on five continents in over 25 countries, it operates four business segments - Exploration and Production, LNG, Transmission and Distribution and Power. BG Group seeks to support social and economic development in the communities where it does business by providing structured funding for community initiatives that match its skills transfer theme. For more information, visit www.bg-group.com
· BG Group's sponsorship portfolio is called Energy for life. The partnership with the International Triathlon Union is one of four that make up the Energy for life portfolio. For further information visit www.bg-group.com/about/sponsorship.htm