Mrs Obama will follow in the steps of her predecessors² Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush, who headed the American delegations³ to the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy respectively.

 

The announcement comes during a three-day visit to the United States made by Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha Cameron, in which Mr Obama and Mr Cameron intend to focus on foreign policy issues.

 

The Prime Minister will also go to a basketball game in Ohio with Mr Obama, and fly aboard the presidential plane, Air Force One.

 

Mrs Cameron will attend a mini-Olympic competition hosted by the First Lady as part of her Let's Move! initiative, aimed at encouraging fitness and a healthy diet to combat obesity⁴, where children in the Washington D.C. area will participate in physical activities.

 

Mrs Obama said of her campaign to fight causes of obesity that it "isn't just a policy issue for me. This is a passion. This is my mission."

 

Despite statements during the visit that the UK and USA possess a "special relationship," a phrase made famous by Winston Churchill in a speech given at Westminster College in Missouri in 1946, Mr Obama hasn't always been so keen to push transatlantic ties.

 

During his very first month in office he removed a bust⁵ of Mr Churchill from the Oval Office and formally returned it to the British government, snubbing the gift originally lent to President George W Bush in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

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