3:48 AM
Shweta Pandey
DUMFRIESSHIRE’S Calum Graham has secured a dream ticket to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The council sports development officer with leisure and sport Annandale and Eskdale has beaten thousands of hopefuls to become a coveted BT Olympic storyteller.
BT is a partner for the London 2012 Olympic Games and the communications giant launched a competition to find members of the public to help chronicle the story of the Olympic and Paralympic Games from one-year-to-go right through to Games-time.
It means the 38-year-year-old, who lives in Canonbie, will have to submit stories, tweets, photos, film clips and blogs for publication on a dedicated website from July 27 this year, to help mark one year to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
And Calum says it will be a “labour of love!”
On July 14 he is being flown to London on all all-expenses paid trip which includes a champagne dinner with the British Olympics Team and Lord Seb Coe, chairman of the London 2012 organising committee.
He will get a tour of the Olympic Park and Village and ride on the athletes javelin train, as well as being briefed on his amazing year ahead.
Calum said: “I am absolutely thrilled. Hundreds of thousands of people applied to be a BT storyteller and I can’t believe I have been chosen.
“I have a lot of friends who applied for tickets to see some of the events and were unable to get them. Now I am going to be right there in the thick of action and reporting on it. And it is not going to cost me a penny. Fantastic!”
Only 15 people have been selected as BT Olympic storytellers and Calum is one of two from Scotland.
He said: “I’ll learn more on July 14 but I know that I will have to attend a number of cultural and sports events in the run up to the Games. Then I get to report on three sports events at the Olympics and Paralympics and the opening ceremonies. I have chosen track and field, swimming and the Velodrome cycling so I am hoping that they are what I get to cover. I am really looking forward to meeting the Olympians and seeing them in action – particularly Chris Hoy.
“There will be celebrities as well as athletes at next week’s event and there are a number of celebrity fellow storytellers including Duran Duran duo Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes.”
Calum has been involved in sports development in the region since 1992 and founded the award-winning Annandale and Eskdale Sports and Leisure Trust which has seen hundreds of children try their hand at sports led by top coaches.
Some of the youngsters in the sports academy are now representing Scotland and national and international level.
And he says he hopes to share his experiences of the Olympics and Paralympics with children in Annandale and Eskdale.
He is a former striker with Carlisle United FC and among his best footballing moments was playing against a Manchester United team that included Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Gary Neville. Until he was forced out of the game with a knee injury, he also played against Roy Keane and Stuart Pearce.
He said: “If pushed I would say my favourite sport is football but get the most satisfaction now of giving children the opportunity to try almost every sport known. In particular taking a full bus to Dunbar for a day’s surfing with the Scottish Surfing Champion at the end of the month.”
The London 2012 Olympic games run from July 27 to August 12 next year and Paralympic Games from August 29 to September 9.
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