An 18-year-old pupil from Arrow Vale Sports College in Redditch, Worcestershire, has won the honour of carrying the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday 13 August in Athens.

Rick Peacock, world junior sailing champion 2003, will be attending the Games as an ‘Olympic champion of education’ thanks to this year’s European Year of Education through Sport (EYES) 2004.

Initially, the Youth Sport Trust – a registered charity set up to improve sporting provision for all young people and which is co-ordinating EYES 2004 in the United Kingdom (UK) – nominated four pupils from a national register of gifted and talented athletes held by Sports Colleges to identify promising young sports people.

Rick is the only UK sports person selected to join 27 other young people from a total of 25 European countries to observe the proceedings and find out more about the Olympic movement. He was chosen by representatives from the European Union and International Olympics Committee on the basis of his academic achievement, sporting prowess and a personal presentation.

Rick travels 400 miles from land-locked Redditch to Weymouth in Dorset most weekends for sailing training and his achievements would not have been possible without the support of his parents. He has taken four A levels and five AS levels and hopes to go to Southampton University.