Mo Farah flies the flag for GB - photo matthew lewis/getty images

With the London 2012 Olympics under eighteen months away, Great Britain’s athletes will be looking to impress their peers at this weekend’s European Indoor Athletics Championships in Paris.

The Great Britain and Northern Ireland team assembled today prior to their trip across the channel with a mixture of household names and newcomers to the international arena.

Some of the better known competitors amongst the 32 strong team are newly crowned 5000m British record holder Mo Farah, who will defend his 3000m title won in Turin in 2009, Jessica Ennis who will be aiming to increase her international medal haul at the weekend and team captain Helen Clitheroe will be also hoping to capitalise on her recent form in Paris, having set a new lifetime best at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham.

Other athletes at today’s team send off included 800m runner Jenny Meadows; high jumper Tom Parsons, who astonished crowds at the recent Aviva Trials and UK Championships with a 2.31m clearance; and former heptathlete Kelly Sotherton, in her new role as a 400m athlete.

10 out of the 32 athletes in the team will be also making their first international senior appearance, including schoolgirl Jodie Williams; the impressive 17 year old already has a double sprint World Youth and 100m World Junior title to her name, and took her first senior title at the Aviva Indoor UK Trials and Championships in Sheffield earlier this month.

The full Aviva GB & NI Team for the European Indoor Championships 2011 is:

MEN
Harry Aikines Aryeetey, Sutton – 60m
Dwain Chambers, Belgrave Harriers – - 60m
Joel Fearon, Birchfield Harriers – 60m
Richard Buck, City of York – 400m & 4×400m relay
Nigel Levine, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow – 400m & 4×400m relay
Richard Strachan, Trafford – 400m & 4×400m relay
Andrew Osagie, Harlow AC – 800m
Joe Thomas, Cardiff – 800m
Nick McCormick, Morpeth Harriers – 1500m
Colin McCourt – 1500m
Andy Baddeley, Harrow – 3000m
Mo Farah, Newham & Essex Beagles – 3000m
Lawrence Clarke, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow – 60m hurdles
Robbie Grabarz, Newham & Essex Beagles – High Jump
Tom Parsons, Birchfield Harriers – High Jump
4×400m relay: Nick Leavey, Woodford Green & Essex Ladies – 4×400m relay
Luke Lennon-Ford, Birchfield Harriers – 4×400m relay
Conrad Williams, Kent – 4×400m relay

WOMEN
Jodie Williams, Herts Phoenix – 60m
Bernice Wilson, Birchfield Harriers – 60m
Jenny Meadows, Wigan AC – 800m
Marilyn Okoro, Shaftesbury Barnet – 800m
Stacey Smith, Gateshead – 1500m
Hannah England, Oxford – 1500m
Helen Clitheroe, Preston Harriers – 3000m
Tiffany Ofili – 60m hurdles
Holly Bleasdale, Blackburn – Pole Vault
Kelly Massey – 4 x 400m relay:
Lee McConnell, Scotland / Shaftesbury Barnet – 4 x 400m relay
Kelly Sotherton, Birchfield Harriers – 4 x 400m relay:
Laura Wake, Herts Phoenix – 4 x 400m relay

Cedella Marley-photo Credit Rolo De Campo

The daughter of celebrated reggae icon Bob Marley, fashion designer Cedella Marley has been chosen to design the PUMA Jamaican Track and Field team’s Olympic, podium and ceremony wear for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The designs will be worn by the entire team, including three-time Jamaican Olympic gold medallist and fastest man in the world Usain Bolt – with Bolt endorsing the decision, saying that he can’t think of a better person to design Jamaica’s Olympic outfits than Cedella.

The collection will incorporate high tech fabrics and silhouettes engineered to enhance the performance of all the athletes. Cedella Marley’s unique designs have taken inspiration from the vibrant colours and patterns of Jamaica as well as its African roots, and are sure to make the world take notice in the Summer of 2012 – when the world will be watching Bolt in London to see if he will break his own record in the 100m and 200m.

A track runner in high school herself and huge fan of Jamaican athletics, Cedella says her role in creating the Olympic outfits for her home team and home team is an unbelievable honour and something she never dreamed would be possible.

Cedella Marley has been designing clothes since touring with Ziggy Marley and his band, made up of her brothers and sisters, The Melody Makers.

She launched the Catch A Fire brand in 2001,  her trademark tailored bohemian style with vivid colours and prints are available from top end department stores across the USA.

Having endured the agony of being forced to withdraw from the Heptathlon event at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 due to injury, resulting in an enforced twelve months away from the sport, it has been reassuring to see that Jessica Ennis has not only managed to retain her focus but has also grown in potential, making her one of the top athletes in the World today.

It could have been so different for the charismatic young lady from Sheffield who was told by UK Athletics doctor in Beijing that the diagnosed stress fractures of the navicular and metatarsal in her foot was a career threatening injury.

Aged just 22 at the time and staring the end of her career in the face, Ennis remained focused on the future in a bid to overcome her injury, spending two twenty minute periods a day on an Exogen machine and an hour a day sitting on a magnetic bed to help heal her foot.

Coming back to the sport in 2009 Ennis exceeded expectations by winning the IAAF World Championship in Germany and followed that achievement in 2010 with gold medals at both the World Indoor Championships and the European Championships.

In this months FHM magazine Jessica Ennis becomes your personal trainer with nine simple steps on how to achieve a champions mentality.

The charming but lethal heptathlete has been chosen as the face of the 2012 Olympics in London and says,‘It’s such a huge thing to compete in the Olympics in your home country. But pressure’s a good thing. Pressure focuses you.’

In this months FHM Bionic, Jessica is one of four top sports people offering their personal advice on training techniques along with the recent FIFA Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, England fly half Toby Flood and Britain’s best MMA fighter Michael (The Count) Bisping,

To find out more about this months issue of FHM which is out now, visit the FHM website.

Readers can get £1 off FHM by buying online now!

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Unlike many of the sports stars that are nominated for the BBC prize, Jessica Ennis comes across as atrue personality and someone who enjoys what she does.

In this clip sponsors Aviva bring Ennis together with rugby stars Joe Worsley, Tom Varndell and Joe Simpson, along with the Wasps’s Strength and Conditioning coach Huw Davies, to compare each others training regimes and seeing the differences in training as part of a team over the more single minded approach.

The rugby players tried to teach Ennis how to kick a rugby ball amongst other things while the athlete put the lads through their paces with the shot put.

The Great Britain team’s final medal tally exceeded expectations, reaching 19 overall, making this the best ever achievement by a GB Athletics team.

Many eyes will now be firmly set on the London Olympics in 2012, which will take place in under two years time. Praise has been heaped on Great Britain’s head coach Charles van Commenee, who’s passion for the sport has been likened to that of football manager Jose Mourinho by Kelly Sotherton.

Sotherton’s sentiments are echoed by UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner who said:

“It is very easy to make a caricature of Charles, but Kelly has it absolutely right when she compares him to Jose Mourinho.

“He’s not only got the strong personality and the ability to cut through the nonsense and tell it like it is, but he’s got a great understanding of his sport and phenomenal technical ability. If you speak to the athletes there is a high degree of respect there, but there isn’t fear and I think that is a key dividing line. It’s easy to come across as a hard taskmaster but if you have no substance underneath and an understanding of what is required and the nuances of athletics you would be built on sand and he is built on strong foundations.”