The double Olympic gold medallist travelled to
Manchester on Wednesday to tell delegates at the Tory party
conference about the importance of competitive sport in school.
Dame Kelly, who also attended the Labour Party
conference a week earlier, highlighted the Kent School
Games - the only event of its kind in the
country - as the
ideal model of a countywide multi-sport competition.
She said: “People want to be touched by the
Olympics but they want something left (afterwards). They want to
feel they were part of the dream, journey and investment.
“I'm
very passionate about what happens in Kent and there is a model
there I absolutely believe in.
“Last week I launched the 2010 Kent School
Games. Heats and semi-finals are now taking place involving 30,000
young people, 500 schools and 38 sports, all accumulating in a
final next July.
“I believe that if a model like that can work
in Kent, with all those people engaging in it, then it should be
all over the country.
“If we could copy that model so every county
can host their own school games, replicate the amount of young
people in those sports, and then have a massive school Olympics,
then that is what should be left.
“It is not just for the young people taking
part. School teachers will be motivated to get behind this, parents
will see their young people enjoying sports and communities and
local authorities will come together.
“My challenge is for someone to put on a
Schools Olympics. That is one of the things that should be left
after the Games in 2012.
“I want to see something credible, something
we can all get behind, that the nation says it was started because
of the Olympic Games and is still here 10 years later.”
Jeremy Hunt, the shadow secretary of state for
culture media and sport, said that under a Conservative government,
a national sports competition would run every year, climaxing in
finals held at the Olympic Stadium.
Mr Hunt said: “Let’s democratise the Olympics.
Let’s not just have them in the stadium in London for three weeks
only.
“Let’s have them in every school, in every
town, in every city and every county not just in 2012 but every
year from then on.
“Let’s use the London Olympics to bring back
school sports league tables, with a proper system of town, city,
regional and national heats.
“Let’s use 2012 to bring competitive sport and
sporting values, within the grasp of all young people.
“The values of competitive sport are crucial
in creating a society that brings out the best in young people.
This initiative will allow us to use 2012 to bring competitive
sport and sporting values within the grasp of all young
people.”