A team from the Midlands will boost the profile of athletics in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics.

UK Athletics, the national governing body for the sport, has expanded its communications team with the appointment of three new members of staff.

Vas Charalambous, aged 31, joins as media manager at the Solihull headquarters at Blythe Valley Park, Solihull.

She will be responsible for raising the profile of athletics amongst adult and youth consumer audiences, particularly in the run-up to the London Games. And Graham Doughty, aged 53, has been appointed as internal communications manager.

His new role will involve developing the company's systems and procedures to ensure UK Athletics' staff and volunteers are well informed and educated on developments within the company and the sport.

And the organisation has a new website editor. Duncan Adams, aged 41, will be responsible for developing the UK Athletics website www.ukathletics.net to ensure it operates as "as a full service communications tool with up-to-date, interesting and fun information for all users."

Head of communications Helen Wyeth said: "Each of our new team members brings a wealth of experience to their respective roles and we wish them every success

in helping to increase the profile of athletics and raise performance standards.

"Athletics has a huge challenge to achieve its goals in 2012 and beyond, and Vas, Graham and Duncan are key to ensuring the athletics community and public under-stand how they can play a vital part."

The London Games could provide a major boost for companies across the region. City council leader Mike Whitby told business leaders that infrastructure deals valued at £100 million could be landed if the city landed only 2.5 per cent of the available work.

Birmingham was also aiming to attract a "major team" to train in the city.