Saturday, February 02, 2013

Young Diver Wins Canary Wharf Sports Personality of the Year Accolade


11-year old Scarlett Mew Jensen was named Canary Wharf Sports Personality of the Year at a glittering ceremony at the East Wintergarden, Canary Wharf, last night.

Mew Jensen, who lives in Tower Hamlets and attends Bonner Primary School in Bethnal Green, won two gold medals for   her age group on 1 metre and 3 metre boards at the Great Britain National Diving Championships last year. She also won two silver medals at her first international diving event in Lund, Sweden.

The achievement is more remarkable considering Mew Jensen took up diving just three years ago, at which point she was unable to dive off the pool edge, let alone a 10m high platform. She juggles her studies with over 14 hours of training per week at the Crystal Palace Diving Club.

The twelfth annual Canary Wharf Sports Awards were organised by Canary Wharf Group, which for over 20 years has invested in sport to foster social and economic development in the local area.

The awards encourage sporting excellence and participation in the East End of London and were attended by 340 local sports people and administrators and a range of local dignitaries, including former MP and recent Dancing on Ice performer Baroness King of Bow; Tower Hamlets Speaker of the Council Rajib Ahmed; Councillors Gloria Theinel, Oliur Rahman and Peter Golds; and Chair of the Association of Island Communities Rita Bensley.

Winners on the evening included:

• Sports Personality of the Year: Scarlett Mew Jensen, Diving
• Junior Team of the Year: Tower Hamlets’ Girls Football Club, which won the London Youth Games Girls Football title and the MTG Champions Cup. The side also defeated the West Ham United women’s team and represented the UK in the MTG International tournament, where they narrowly lost the final to a club from Sweden
• Senior Team of the Year: Helvecia Futsal Club have been Futsal English National Champions since 2008 and holders of the FA Futsal Cup. In 2012 they represented England in the UEFA Futsal Tournament, where they were ranked in the top 25 clubs in Europe
• Group Achievement Award: Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre, which supports young people from all backgrounds into sailing and other watersports. In 2012, thanks to external funding the Centre acquired a new fleet of boats for competitions and training at its facilities on the Isle of Dogs. The Centre is consistently used by the Royal Yachting Association, the national governing body for sailing, as an example of how sailing can be accessible to all.

John Garwood, Group Company Secretary at Canary Wharf Group plc, said: “Having attended these awards for many years, I am consistently impressed by the quality and achievements of young sports people from the East End of London. 2012 was an amazing year with the East End earning well deserved plaudits for hosting the greatest sports event in the world. The challenge for the next generation of local athletes is to harness the spirit of 2012 and carry it with them as they strive to become the best. Special congratulations to Scarlett Mew Jensen for becoming the Canary Wharf Sports Personality of the Year. We will follow her diving career with much interest.”

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