OLYMPIC champ Sally Gunnell is helping make dreams come true for young athletes from London to get a chance at taking part in the 2012 Games being staged on their doorstep. She is patron of the Sport Foundation which last night awarded 800 young hopefuls training grants

By Mike Brooke

OLYMPIC champ Sally Gunnell is helping make dreams come true for young athletes from all over London and especially the East End to get a chance at taking part in the 2012 Games being staged on their doorstep.

She is patron of the Sport Foundation charity which last night awarded 800 young hopefuls from all over the South East grants from its �400,000 kitty, at a VIP night at the landmark BT Tower in Central London.

Among them were 110 young athletes from Tower Hamlets, by far the biggest single group out of the 800.

The East End, which backs onto the Olympics construction site, has talent like Perri Shakes-Drayton, who recently set a personal best in the 800m at the UK trials. She has just returned from the World Indoor trials in Doha where she ran an impressive time in the 4x400m relay.

Lucas Taylor is another East End young sports hopeful who has a U13 National tennis ranking of one. Last year he scooped titles at the national summer and Clay Court tournaments and has played at the Casely International in Florida.