In the Olympic brain game Britain wins gold

BRIAN CLOUGH didn't think too much of education.

He was quite happy to graduate from the University of Life.

"If anyone wants to see my O-Levels and A-Levels, I'll get my medals from upstairs and put them on the table. They're my O-Levels and A-Levels," he famously told an interviewer.

However, statistics from British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) have revealed that you don't have to be brainy to make it to the Olympics - but it helps.

While England's footballers might travel with a rolled up and well-thumbed copy of a red-top, don't be surprised to see a few copies of Proust's 'À la recherche du temps perdu' in the luggage of Team GB's medal hopefuls.

According to BUCS 57% of the team going to Beijing is made up of university students and graduates.  An improvement on Athens when 15 of the 30 medals were won by current or former students, three of them golds.

Karen Rothery, Chief Executive at British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) said: "As the new, national voice for university sport we're excited that students and graduates make up over half of the team going to Beijing this year.

"This is a great start for university sport and shows the potential we have in the sector to make a real difference to increasing participation and improving performance across all Olympic sports.

"What this figure doesn't show is the number of Beijing athletes who train alongside students at university due to the quality of facilities and coaching on offer.

"It's highly likely that the vast majority of athletes going to Beijing will have benefited from higher education support at some point in their sporting careers.

"Our sights are now set on London 2012; with our members we'll be looking at how we can help more athletes combine their sporting careers with their academic aspirations to achieve success on and off the field."

GERARD MEAGHER

gmeagher@sportsbeat.co.uk