CHERIE BLAIR is to become an ambassador for London’s 2012 Olympic Bid.
The news came as the Prime Minister’s wife returned to Athens to watch the British coxless four rowers win gold.
She said: “I am delighted to be invited to join the team of ambassadors for the London 2012 bid team. I have always been a great supporter of the plan to bring the Olympic Games to London in 2012 and look forward to helping that aim become a reality.”
Her appointment will help to deflect criticism that Downing Street has not played a great enough role in the campaign to bring the Games to London.
The bid, currently led by the former Olympic athlete Lord Coe, has been beset by problems, including the departure of Barbara Cassani, the American businesswoman who was leading it.
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Mrs Blair has already travelled to Athens once with her husband for the opening day of the Games, where they were both photographed wearing Team GB T-shirts.
The final decision over who will host the 2012 Games will be announced in Singapore next July. Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow are also in contention.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “(Mrs Blair) is very pleased to have received the invitation to be an ambassador. She has been very supportive of the London bid and her visit to Athens over the weekend is a fact-finding mission to see the work involved behind the scenes and also to give her support to Team GB.”
As well as her commitment to the Olympic Bid, Mrs Blair is a patron of Sargent Cancer Care, Breast Cancer Care and Victim Support in London. She is the president of the children’s charity Barnardo’s, vice-president of 4Children and a trustee of Refuge and the Citizenship Foundation. Other Olympic ambassadors include Sir Steve Redgrave, Daley Thompson, Paula Radcliffe, Sir Ian McKellen and Nell McAndrew.