Ice queen Shelley Rudman has taken a break from skeleton bob training to visit Right to Play projects in Tanzania.

The world champion, from Pewsey, is an Athlete Ambass-ador for the charity that uses the power of play to educate children facing adversity.

It has schemes in more than 20 countries and she spent three days in Tanzania, visiting schools and youth projects.

Miss Rudman, 31, said: “It was incredible. I’m so happy I got the chance to go there.

“At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Right to Play had a stand in the athletes’ village and when I read about the work they do I thought it was a really good concept.

“I signed up for more information and I became and an Athlete Ambassador.

“There are a lot of Athlete Ambassadors, so I think it will be a few years before I can go back, but I’d love to go again. It was so awe-inspiring – at one point I had about five children hanging off each arm.”

She has been involved with the charity for several years, but it was her first trip abroad for it. She said: “To experience the projects first-hand was amazing and it’s given me a much better understanding of exactly what it is that Right to Play does.

“I visited a youth community project in the middle of a run-down field, but all the children were out there playing and when they saw us they came straight over to us.

“I thought how good it would be if children in primary schools over here learned this way, because the children learned so much through playing about things, like washing their hands and STIs, which there is a high risk of over there.

“At the end of each activity, there was a debrief and the children totally understood what each activity was supposed to teach them about.”