A Sheffield water polo referee is heading to China to officiate at the Olympic Games.
Brian Littlejohn, a research funding co-ordinator at Sheffield Hallam University, is the only water polo referee from the UK to go to Beijing this summer.
He has previously refereed at a number of international tournaments, including the World Ch
ampionships in 2003, but this is his first Olympic games.
Brian said: "I'm just starting to get excited about it now. There's been so much to arrange for the trip that I haven't had a chance to think about it, but the reality's starting to set in now."
Brian, who is a member of Sheffield Water Polo Club, has represented both Scotland and Great Britain in tournaments and has been refereeing internationally since 1997. Team GB failed to qualify for Beijing 2008, but Brian believes Britain is slowly catching up with the rest of Europe in the sport.
"Funding for international water polo in the UK has only recently kicked in, and Team GB is getting there. We're still a way behind some of the Eastern European men's teams, and the Americans and Australians when it comes to the women. But we should be ready for 2012," he said.
With 12 men's and eight women's teams competing in the Olympics it is a full schedule of matches. From over 200 qualified referees there are just 24 water polo referees invited to officiate at the Olympic Games. The last British referee to officiate at an Olympic Games was David Bathurst in 1992 at Barcelona.
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