Published 19.11.08

Please note: due to an injury whilst filming yesterday, James DeGale will not be attending the event.

Olympic gold medallist and GB coaches to give a rare insight into world of boxing

Britain's Olympic Gold boxing champion, James DeGale, and his coaches from the GB boxing team will offer a rare insight into the sport of boxing when they give a free, public talk at the University of Brighton on 28 November.

Still high from their success in Beijing, the middleweight boxer along with the GB Olympic head coach, Terry Edwards and GB performance coach, David Pocknell will take questions from an audience of sport enthusiasts and university students in what promises to be a lively discussion.

Having scooped gold at the Beijing Games, 22-year-old, Londoner DeGale (pictured right) has not been far from the press headlines as he grapples with the decision to stay amateur and defend his title at London's 2012 Olympics or accept a reported £2m offer to turn professional.

As head coach to the GB Team, Terry Edwards has taken British boxers to the finals of three successive Olympics, winning Gold with Audley Harrison in Sydney and Silver with Amir Khan in Athens. Under his leadership in Beijing, Team GB landed one gold and two bronze medals – the best haul for a British Olympic Team since 1956.

Joining them in the discussion is David Pocknell, a high-performance boxing coach. Pocknell played a major role in the Beijing success guiding the team through qualifying events and onto the Games themselves. With Britain achieving the best results for over 50 years, the quality of his work speaks for itself.

Young local boxers and university students will also be given the exclusive chance to take part in a training and demonstration masterclass with the Olympic boxer and coaches during the GB team visit.

The public talk and masterclass are part of an inspiring series of talks and events, entitled Fuelling the flame, leading up to the London 2012 Olympics. Presented by Chelsea School at the University of Brighton, Eastbourne, the series has already hosted a talk from multi-award winning investigative journalist, Andrew Jennings.

Chelsea School has a well established reputation for excellence in sport-related education. The school has received high ratings from the Quality Assurance Agency, Ofsted, external examiners and the National Survey.

The talk will take place on Friday 28 November, 6.30pm, at the Hillbrow Lecture Theatre, Eastbourne. Admission is free by advance ticket only. Email chelsea@brighton.ac.uk with the subject 'Fuelling the flame' or call 01273 643707.