‘Changing the Game of Women’s Sport’, an exhibition curated by Nike to celebrate and elevate the profile of some of the country’s finest sportswomen – their strength, passion and individuality – opened today in central London.

The launch of the exhibition coincides with recent debate regarding the current state of women’s sport in the UK, where there are currently no women playing team sports professionally and less than 5% of all sports media coverage is dedicated to women’s sport.

Research released by the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation earlier this month shows more than 80% of women are not doing enough physical activity to benefit their health and 16-24 year old women are half as active as their male counterparts.

The aim of the exhibition is to inspire through the athletes’ stories and motivate younger women to get involved in sport to experience the strength they can gain from doing so.

The athletes featured in the exhibition dream big and have a ‘conquer the world’ attitude. They know sport makes them stronger. Girls who take part in sport are more likely to have higher self esteem and better control over their lives.

The amazing roster of profiled athletes includes…

• Paula Radcliffe – World Record Marathon Holder

• Sonia O’Sullivan – Gold Medallist World Athletics Championships 1995

• Asha Philip – Current UK Junior 100m record holder

• Nicola Sanders – 400m World Championships Silver Medallist

• Kelly Sotherton – Heptathlon Gold Medal Commonwealth Games 2006

• Perri Shakes-Drayton – 400m Hurdles European Junior Silver Medallist 07

• Rebecca Cullum – British Youth Girls’ Snowboard Champion 2006

• Claire Frost – 1st Snowboard Slalom, BUISC North 2007

• Zoe Gillings – 1st Valle Nevado, Chile, World Cup 2005

• Emma Byrne – Arsenal Ladies & Ireland Goalkeeper

• Lianne Sanderson – Arsenal Ladies & England

• Kymberlee Jay – Dance athlete

• Victoria Igbokwe – Dance athlete

• Clara Bajado – Dance athlete

• Jane Wake – Dance athlete

• Sonja Moses – Dance athlete

“In order to make sport appealing to young girls and communicate the strength, both physical and mental, sport brings to your life, we felt we needed to champion some the UK and Ireland’s top sportswomen as positive role models,” said Lindsey Sexton-Chadwick, Nike Women’s Marketing Manager. “The exhibition is the first chapter in a series of activities we have planned to encourage young girls to become and stay more active.”

The exhibition runs from 26th November to Friday 7th December at the Blink Gallery, 11 Poland Street, London W1F 8QA. Don’t miss it!