IMOGEN BANKIER, the Scottish badminton star, is going to the Beijing Olympics.

The surprise invitation for the Glasgow 20-year-old in Team GB's Olympic Ambition Programme gives BADMINTONscotland yet more reason to celebrate another Olympic boost. 

Her inclusion in the multi-sport party of athletes and coaches comes just weeks after BADMINTONscotlandís Coaching and Events Manager Hilary Atkinson was named Badminton Competition Manager for London 2012.

Bankier, who with Robert Blair reached the Yonex All England quarter-finals in mixed doubles as well as the last eight at last month's Singapore and Thailand tournaments, is named in the badminton contingent along with England's world junior silver medallists Chris Adcock and Gabby White. Sydney mixed doubles bronze medallist Joanne Goode is named as their coach.

Bankier has made her mark on the world scene in the last 12 months after she and Blair won the mixed doubles title at the Bank of Scotland Centenary International Championships in November 2007.

The British Olympic Association's Ambition Programme is designed to enhance athlete medal success at the London 2012 Olympic Games by providing talented potential team members with an opportunity to experience the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. It will see athletes from 33 disciplines spend seven days in Macau and Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games.

Bankier and the athletes from all the other sports will visit the Team GB preparation camp in Macau, the Olympic Village and the Athletes' Lodge. They will also have a press conference fronted by their mentors, Olympians like Denise Lewis, Ed Coode and Alison Mowbray. In addition participants will be given the opportunity to watch two competition sessions for their specific discipline.

The programme's focus is based around providing sports specific event exposure and to replicate, as closely as possible, an athlete's overall Olympic experience.

Anne Smillie, Chief Executive of BADMINTONscotland, said: "This is another great boost for Scottish badminton and, after Imogen's improvement and development over the last 12 months, she really deserves this opportunity. Her achievements will give Scotland's other players something to aim at in the build-up to London 2012."

Said Simon Clegg, Team GB Chef de Mission for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games:
"This programme is unique worldwide and is expected to provide a real competitive edge to the participants. With the BOAís aspirational target to finish fourth in the overall medal table in 2012, and research showing that a significantly high percentage of medallists at any Olympic Games have attended previous Olympic Games, this experience can form a vital part of the athletes preparation for Olympic success."

Ed Coode, Britainís Olympic Ambition 2012 Mentor, said:
"As a rower I found the first Olympics that I went to in Sydney 2000 to be totally different to anything I had experienced before as a sportsman - even though I had raced at three world Championships prior to this. Although the race and competition are essentially the same, the time spent building up to and at the Olympics is unlike anything an athlete would have experienced before. At the same time the scale of the hype and the press interest only fuels the novice competitorís fears that he or she has to do something different at the Olympics. I think this certainly contributed to me underperforming in the Coxless Pairs event in Sydney 2000.

"What I hope to achieve through the Britain's Olympic Ambition 2012 programme is that the young, novice, athletes of 2012 actually achieve 100% of what they are capable of at the London 2012 Olympic Games and their performances do not suffer simply because it is their first games. The only way of helping them prepare for the Games is to let them experience it first hand."