Teen 24: Meet Steph, Fred and Kadijah

Teenagers have been given the chance to talk about issues affecting them in a series of special reports on BBC News 24.

Steph and Fred are two young people training hard to compete in the 2012 Games.

Kadijah ran away from home several times and by the age of 15 was on the streets

Here are their stories.

STEPH, AGE 18

Steph won the European Junior Cross Country Championship in 2006

I started to become involved in athletics around the age of nine.

My dad was in the army and we were living in Germany at the time.

My school had a cross country club so I got involved in that.

Training for athletics is tough and for me usually involves two seasons. One is the track season in the summer and the other is cross country in the winter.

I really love cross country running as you are out in the open and you have to deal with things like the wind and the rain.

At the moment distance running is currently dominated by the Kenyans but hopefully Britain will become better.

At the moment Paula Radcliffe is doing really well. I would say she is an inspiration in terms of female endurance running.

OLYMPIC FACTS London last held the Olympics in 1948. An extimated 200 events in 29 sports will take place at the 2012 Olympics Over 10,000 athletes will compete in the Games Britain is the only nation to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Games Source: 2012 website/ official Olympic website

She has showed people of my age what you can achieve in sport.

I think you need a lot of drive to succeed in sport as life can be difficult.

One of the most difficult things in athletics is dealing with injuries- it can be quite difficult emotionally.

Your whole focus is to train hard and race well and an injury always interrupts that.

One of my proudest achievements is winning the European Junior Cross Country Championship in 2006 and at the moment I am training hard to compete in the 2012 Olympics.

If you would like to find out more about how you can get involved in athletics check out the UK Athletics website:

UK Athletics

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FRED, AGE 14

Boxing is a lot harder than most people think, says Fred

I started training at the age of four when my dad brought me down to the local boxing gym.

I trained hard and started competing in competitions from about the age of 10.

To succeed you definitely need a lot of dedication and focus.

It is a lot harder than most people think.

Many people might think that boxing is a dangerous sport but we do wear plenty of protective and safety gear as well as constantly being checked and monitored by doctors.

At the moment I fight as a featherweight and I am training hard to compete in the 2012 Olympics.

If you would like to find out more about the sport of boxing and how you can get involved check out the Amateur Boxing Association of England's website:

Amateur Boxing Association of England

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KADIJAH, AGE 16

The first time I ran away I was about 13.

At first Kadijah would run away at night and return the next day

My parents had both died when I was young and I was sent to live with my aunt.

In the beginning we got along fine but after a while we began to argue about everything and things just kept getting worse and worse.

At first I would just run away for a night and then return the next day. Then it would increase to two days and then it would move to about a week and then got longer.

When I was about 15 we had a big argument and I realised that I couldn't stay there anymore.

At first I stayed with friends but then I was forced to sleep rough. I was scared of what would happen to me on the streets.

RUNAWAY FACTS 498 people sleep rough on the streets of England every night(Source: National Rough Sleeping Estimate 2007) Over 100,000 homeless families trapped in temporary accommodation. (Source: ODPM Homelessness Statistics 2004) 1.6 million young people in Britain live in housing judged to be temporary, overcrowded or unfit (Source: Shelter, Nov 2006) More than 57,000 children living in poor housing in Britain are excluded from school. (Source: Shelter, Nov 2006)

You hear so many stories of bad things happening and here was me spending the night in a park. It was quite scary.

I slept on a park bench for a bit but never felt safe. I had to wait until I turned 16 to get help from a case worker.

They helped me to get accommodation. People have to know that running away is not the easy option.

I hope to put that all behind me and go to college where I can concentrate on something new.

If you would like to find out more information on the issue of homelessness you can contact the London Refuge:

London Refuge

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