2012 Olympic Advisor Tells Athletes to Play Video Games

Video games, including the likes of Street Fighter IV, are being used by athletes including the GB Taekwondo team (or Tae Kwon Do - does anybody really know?) to train for the 2012 London Olympics.

We wonder what the food and media companies behind the scurrilous Change4Life campaign make of this news.

Des Blackburn, once a Ruby Union player and now the performance analyst for (the) Great Britain Taekwondo (team), said in an interview, "In Manchester (the athletes) have got their apartments in and around the training facility and they're just encouraged to go in and play, computer games and things like that... We know it keeps the mental agility there and it's good for hand-eye coordination."

Tyrone Robinson, a 22 year-old Taekwondo medal hopeful training at the British performance academy, even indicated that he would like to emulate some of the moves. "I'm never going to be able to throw fireballs in the ring like the characters in Street Fighter IV, but I can still try some of the crazy kicks they do", he said.

Kids! Don't try that at home. Robinson follows a regime of weight training and specific taekwondo drills. He can do things you can't.

Anyway, it's heartening to hear that videogames helping folk with real-life violence is being used in a constructive way.

^{Source: Reuters}