State schools 'letting down' Olympians of the future

In a BBC Radio 4 interview, Mr Hunt accepted that opportunities to participate were inconsistent across the country.

“At the moment school sport provision is patchy in some places and we need to do what we can to make sure that the very best examples are spread throughout the whole country and this is absolutely going to be a focus over the next few months and is one of the things we really want to take away from these Games,” he said.

He admitted that for many promising young athletes, there was “an element of luck” in whether they had teachers willing and able to develop their talents.

Speaking at the Olympic Park, Lord Coe said that the London Games were a unique chance to get a new generation involved in sport. “This is never going to come around again … There is inevitably a limited window,” he insisted.

He said that ministers knew they had to do more to ensure all children were regularly involved in sport.

“They need to recognise, as they do, that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Lord Coe said.

The most recent official figures, for 2009-10, show that 86 per cent of schoolchildren were doing at least two hours a week of physical education and sport. But Lord Coe said that should be universal.

“Space has to be found in the timetable to make sure that all kids, particularly in the state sector, get good, highquality physical education,” he said.

Lord Coe said that his early career had been helped because a teacher at his state school in Sheffield had coached him in his spare time.

“We need to recognise that the world has changed, particularly for many teachers,” he said, suggesting that more should done to encourage such voluntary coaching. “If you want additional hours outside of that curriculum then we may need to start recognising the extra work that PE teachers by instinct want to do.”