PUPILS were treated to an audience with Olympians Mark Foster and Jason Gardener as they celebrated the launch of Lloyds TSB National School Sport week at the SCORE centre in Leyton.

More than 600 children gathered for a special opening ceremony that took place on the doorstep of the London 2012 Olympic stadium.

The initiative seeks to inspire more young people to take up sport, and the children were given a chance to do just that, as they took to the fields to participate in a number of different activities, ranging from football to softball.

Foster, a veteran of five Olympics and the man entrusted to carry the Great British flag at last year’s Beijing Games, insisted plenty of the youngsters taking part in the event would discover talents they never knew they had.

“It’s awesome. When we were younger we never had this,” he said. “It’s great to get these kids into sport because let’s face it, being fit and healthy saves your life. This is about inspiring people to take up sport. With so many different activities going on today people will try something they’ve never done before and find something they will enjoy.”

The children were also able to draw inspiration from an Olympic champion on the day, as Gardener was a member of Britain’s 4x100m relay team that caused a major upset by defeating the USA in Athens back in 2004.

It was in the confines of the school playground that he discovered his talent, and he hoped that there may be future Olympic champions standing in front of him.

“School sport gave me a wonderful opportunity to try different things, and I found out through school that I had a talent,” said the sprinter. “No doubt there are talented youngsters here today and they will take part in different exercises and come away thinking that they might carry it on.”

Gardener insists the moment that he was crowned Olympic champion cannot be matched by any other achievement. “I saw Carl Lewis and Daley Thompson growing up. I wanted to be like them and win for Britain and that’s what made me think that I could do it.

“The realisation that we turned over such a strong team and pulled off one of the biggest shocks in modern Olympic history was just incredible.

“I think anybody interested in sport should get to sample that, standing on top of the podium ahead of every other nation with the national anthem being blasted out alongside my team-mates. That’s a feeling everyone should experience. But I had to work hard and take my opportunity, and this is a chance for these young kids.

“There will be people who will remember this and think ‘that national sports week enabled me to realise my talent’.”

The minister for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Ben Bradshaw was also in attendance, and he was delighted to see such a big turnout.

He said: “It’s a huge boost to this part of London, and what these children will experience in the years leading up to the Olympics is going to be fantastic. They’ll remember it for the rest of their lives.”

Leytonstone school pupil Alice Smith was one of the young ambassadors for the event. “We came together in our own time to try and get everyone together and share experiences,” she said. “This is amazing, to have the Olympians here as well. It’s great that people can come here and try new things.”