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https://ukti.blog.gov.uk/2012/06/27/sport-is-great-get-the-power-go-for-the-jackpot/

Sport is GREAT: Get the Power, go for the Jackpot

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Germany, GREAT campaign, Olympics London 2012

When the Sport is GREATBritain campaign was envisaged, I don't think this is what they had in mind.

Luminaries such as Andrew Flintoff and Denise Lewis were invited by Number 10 to launch it - the sporting element to a campaign that also covers the GREATness of Knowledge, Innovation and Creativity among others.

It was probably intended to cover events like Premiership Champions Manchester City working with the Consulate in New York to provide training for kids. It was certainly designed to cover the Sporting GREATness that we will witness next month when the Olympics make their third appearance in London.

Here in Germany we have already combined Sport is GREAT and Innovation is GREAT when the Ambassador spoke at the Opening Ceremony for the Rehatechnik Trade Fair in Leipzig - a chance to promote Paralympics at an event for companies specialising in making prosthetics.

But last week in the Embassy we did something which was purely Sport is GREAT (although the sceptics might have argued it should only have been Pastimes are GREAT).

Two British heavyweights of the sporting world joined us to promote sport, Britishness and to entertain out staff (see above).

Phil 'the Power' Taylor, 15 times Darts World Champion, the highest-profile player of his generation and a runner-up on BBC Sports Personality of the Year joined Adrian 'Jackpot' Lewis, the current world champion, at our Embassy.

The two players presented our Ambassador with a new dartboard for the games room before taking on some of our staff in exhibition games - all for the cameras.

You would have thought some of the staff would have been scaredy rabbits (as the Germans would say) about playing against world champions but they gave good accounts of themselves.

The players, very used to these type of one-sided games, were happy to take on our people as part of their wider work to promote to their chosen sport. They travel the world to play tournaments and exhibitions, not a bad thing for GREAT Britain as eight of the top ten and 16 of the top 20 players in the world are from the UK.

And is not just the players who are benefitting from the worldwide interest in this Sport - there are business benefits too.

Household names such as Winmau and Unicorn - who provided the Board for the Embassy - are proud UK companies who now export their wares to more than 70 countries around the globe.

Germany is a strong export market although growth is no more than steady after a previous boom - however places like Japan are seeing serious growth rates which are directly benefiting the UK economy.

Despite having travelled the world, this was the Power's first trip to an Embassy and he was pleased to be able to show support for the GREAT campaign and meet his first Ambassador.

And, to emphasis his personal GREATness, he won the sold-out German Darts Championship this weekend - the tounrament he was in town to take part in.

PS I made a gross error of judgement this week. The day before England's penalty takers proved Sport is not always GREAT I had begun provisional planning with the British Chamber of Commerce Germany for business promotion around a screening of our potential semi-final against Deutschland. Years of conditioning should have taught me better than to assume we would triumph in 11-meter shots (as the Germans would say).

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