Business Management student Scott Moorhouse has helped achieve an amazing double success for the University of Essex after winning a place at the Paralympics, just days after race walker Dom King was included in the Team GB Olympic squad.

Scott, aged 22, is going for Paralympic gold in the Javelin F42 class, for track and field amputees, and can now boast the world’s second longest throw – a lifetime best of 47.33 metres.

He has deferred the final year of his BSc Business Management to concentrate on competing at the Games, having come fourth in the World Championships last year and gaining Bronze in the Under-23 World Championships.

He said: “I am so proud to be competing for Great Britain in London, a huge honour. It has been a crazy journey from sales to sport over the past three years, all of which would not have been made possible without the support I have had from the University of Essex.”

His immediate target is slightly less daunting as he will be an Olympic Torch bearer in Haringey on 25 July, just two days before the Olympic Games begin. His event will be featured at the Paralympics on 7 September.

Professor Martin Sellens, Director of the Centre for Sports and Exercise Science and chairman of the University's Olympic Task Group, said: "The University is delighted that Scott's talent, dedication to training, and sporting achievements have been recognised by selection for the Paralympics. He is an inspiration to all of us, and the entire University community will be supporting him when he competes for Great Britain later this summer.”

Dom King, Student Activities and Development Manager at the University of Essex Students' Union , will be competing in the 50km race walk at London 2012.

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Notes to Editors

For further information or photos of Scott Moorhouse or Dom King at the University of Essex, please contact the Communications Office on 01206 874377.