US First Lady, Michelle Obama, is visiting London to attend the summer Olympics starting later this week, wherein she hopes to further her agenda of inspiring more kids to become active as part of her “Let’s Move!” initiative.

“Leading our nation’s delegation and travelling to London is truly a dream come true,” the First Lady said in a conference call with reporters ahead of her London visit, where she would be leading a US delegation to the Olympics.

“If anybody had asked me when I was 10 or 11 or 20, or actually 40, whether I would be doing this, I would have bet not.

“Some of my fondest memories — when I was young and not so young — involve watching the Olympics on TV and cheering on Team USA,” she said.

Ms Michelle said that as part of this trip and her Let’s Move initiative to solve the problem of childhood obesity, she decided that she wanted to turn that Olympic spirit and inspiration into action by using these games as a way to get more kids up and moving.

“And that’s why I challenged the US Olympic Committee and 10 of its governing bodies to commit to helping 1 million kids get active in their communities this year.

“And we thought that the goal of 1 million kids was an ambitious target, but our partners not only met that goal, they added another 700,000 more to that commitment.

“So that means that 1.7 million young people are going to be participating in Olympic and Paralympic sports in their communities this year as a result of these commitments,” she said.

This involves sports like soccer, tennis, swimming and gymnastics. They are expanding their beginner programming and planning exciting events in clinics to engage kids for the very first time in many of these sports, she added.

“In addition, in conjunction with the start of the 2012 London games, we’ve declared July the 28th Let’s Move Olympic Fun Day. This is going to be really cool.

“On that day, kids and families across the country are going to come together to cheer on Team USA and participate in all kinds of athletic activities in their communities through meetup.com,” she said.

“So as our Olympic athletes begin to compete in London, they will truly be inspiring a generation of young people to get active and to strive for excellence.

“And they’re going to be reminding us all that being an Olympian isn’t just about winning the gold or setting a new record. It’s really about pushing yourself.

“It’s about believing in yourself and refusing to give up, no matter what obstacles you might face,” Ms Michelle said.

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