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Double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes
More than a quarter of a million people have joined the likes of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Dame Kelly Holmes and former England football captain, Bryan Robson, in lending their support to netball's bid to become a participation sport at the Olympic Games.
Over one million women and girls play netball in the UK each week, with 20 million across 70 countries globally taking part in the sport. However, despite its popularity, netball is not classed as a participation sport in the Olympics, despite being regularly played at the Commonwealth Games.
The Co-operative, which is supporting the bid, has surveyed customers in 2,000 of its food stores and some 239,941 members of the public registered their support, with another 20,000 backing the campaign online.
They have been joined by Olympic legend Dame Kelly Holmes, a double gold medal winner at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Dame Kelly said: "I'm delighted to be supporting netball's bid to become part of the Olympic Games. Every athlete dreams of performing on the greatest stage of all, and it's great to see a sport with such an ambition to compete at the highest level.
Popular
"Netball is one of the most popular team games for women in the world, and is already a core part of the Commonwealth Games. In many ways I'm surprised it's not already included in the Olympics! To include netball would have a huge impact on women everywhere by giving them more role models to aspire to, and encouraging them to play sport."
Debbie Robinson, Director of Food Retail Marketing at The Co-operative, which sponsors the Netball Superleague, added: "As the UK's leading convenience store retailer, we support many grassroots sports and activities, and we feel strongly that netball, which is recognised as being one of the most popular team sports played by girls and women, both at home and abroad, should be represented at the Olympics.
"Our customers clearly agree with us and we are delighted with their support and that of Dame Kelly Holmes, who is one of the finest sportswomen this country has ever produced."
Paul Clark, CEO of England Netball, is delighted with the backing being given to the campaign, saying: "This is an exciting time for women's sport and for netball in particular.
Support
"We would really like to see netball played in the Olympics, and with the support we are getting from The Co-operative, its customers, and inspirational personalities such as Dame Kelly Holmes, the bid is really building momentum."
To further back the campaign a group on the social networking site Facebook has been created, "Bid to get netball in the 2012 Olympics", with over 21,000 members having joined to date.
