By David Gold

olympians_and_milton_state_school_qld_21-07-11July 21 - Olympic champions joined Queensland Premier Anna Bligh to witness the work being done by a $100,000 donation from the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) to the Queensland Flood Relief effort.


Two-time Olympic gold medal winning swimmer Kieren Perkins, world record holder and fellow swimming gold medal winner Libby Trickett, Sydney 2000 Hockey gold medallist Nikki Hudson and former diving Olympic champion Chantelle Newbery were all present at the reopening of a local school's tuckshop, which was destroyed in the devastating floods which hit Brisbane last summer.

They were joined by four-time Olympian Tanya Harding and 2008 Beijing weightlifting competitor Damon Kelly, during an assembly in which the school's principal, Paul Zernike, remembered the damage inflicted by the floods.

"We lost the entire bottom floor of the school buildings," Zernike said.

"It has been a massive year to rebuild and it is nice to have a tuckshop again for our students."

The Olympians opened the new tuckshop with Bligh, and sampled snacks while signing autographs and meeting students.

Perkins, who won his gold medals in Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, praised Queensland for its response to the disaster.

"It was a very difficult time for the people of Queensland," he said.

"Following all the wonderful support we Olympians have received from the Australian people, I was pleased the Olympic family could return this support and make a financial contribution to Australians in need."

Bligh said that the school had been badly affected by the flood and she praised the school and its students for getting on with things as well as they had done.

"It was an extraordinary effort by the school community and workers to get Milton State School back up and running on Monday, March 7, just six weeks into the school year," the Premier said.

"I'm sure the students were happy to get their classrooms back but I suspect they'll be even happier to see their tuck shop re-open.

"All over Queensland people are working to recover from these natural disasters and we are building it back better right across this State."

The committee organised a similar visit to Kingslake after the Victoria Bushfire Appeal of 2009, when it donated the same figure.

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