Olympic silver medal winning diver Leon Taylor and Sheffield Sharks head coach Peter Scantlebury will be promoting the city, its facilities and what it can offer to sports decision makers and sportsmen and women as they attend national and international sporting events.

 

“Being given this opportunity to talk about Sheffield and promote it to sportsmen and women is an honour and one I’m relishing,” said Scantlebury, whose career includes being England’s most capped senior international basketball player, two years as England senior men’s coach and steering England to a Commonwealth Bronze medal in 2006.

 

He was awarded an MBE in 2006 for his services to basketball.

 

Scantlebury said: “Sheffield has so much to offer athletes from such a staggering array of sports whether it is as a venue for competitions or as an ideal training camp base."

 

Sheffield's facilities include the English Institute of Sport Sheffield , Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, iceSheffield, Sheffield Arena and Don Valley Stadium.

 

Taylor, who has been based in the Yorkshire city for 10 years, said: “I made a decision to move here because of Sheffield’s sporting facilities and expertise and promoting the city is not difficult when you look around and see the quality of venues and training opportunities it now offers." 

 

Ahead of the Beijing Olympics the duo will be networking with sports colleagues and contacts wherever possible as thoughts will inevitably turn to preparations for London as soon as the Olympic flag is handed over to Britain at the closing ceremony on August 24.

 

“National performance directors and coaches will start to think about London as soon as Beijing is over and this is where we want to pounce,” said Taylor, who was also a sports ambassador for the successful London 2012 bid.

 

“Athletes in a range of sports, and not just diving and basketball, will need training camps and venues.

 

"London doesn’t yet have the same facilities as we do and can be expensive and with Sheffield being a train or car journey or even flight away, it makes sense to come here. It does make a difference if you are known in your sport, like myself and Peter are, and we have the relationships already there to go and talk to people about Sheffield."

 

The German diving team has already visited the city as have the Saudi Arabian wheelchair basketball team and the Bermudian women’s basketball team.

 

They have also had initial talks with Australian, Brazilian, Canadian and USA teams.

 

Taylor said: “We are looking at both established and emerging nations who can bring teams to Sheffield and create a legacy and an international reputation for years to come.

 

SportsPulse, the organisation spearheading the development of South Yorkshire ’s sports businesses, is driving a programme of securing international training camps as well as pioneering sports equipment research and development.

 

They welcomed representatives from the Serbian Olympic and Paralympic Committee to Sheffield last week who were shown some of the city’s top flight sporting facilities and support available for international athletes in a range of sports.

 

Taylor said: “ Sheffield is an exciting vibrant sports city with an abundance of world class facilities.

 

The perception we want to help create is that Sheffield has now firmly replaced steel with sport."

 

David Curtis, director of SportsPulse, based at Sheffield Hallam University , believes the involvement of two high-profile sportsmen will boost their bid. 

 

He said: “Peter and Leon are such respected and successful athletes in their own right that it made perfect sense for them to join us in our efforts to highlight on an international platform what Sheffield has to offer the world of sport.

 

"There are exciting times ahead and we look forward to welcoming even more international teams to the city during 2008 and beyond."