Steven, aged 14, from Walkford, was chosen from hundreds in a national competition run by Echo publisher Newsquest. Below he gives his thoughts after arriving in Beijing

WE arrived in Beijing at 5.30am and were met by a McDonalds Champion kids chaperone. After we collected our luggage we had a coach transfer to the Loong Palace hotel. I was really tired and struggled to stay awake. When we arrived at the hotel we had breakfast, the hotel was huge.

We had a few hours to rest before the days activities started so we tried to get a taxi to the Pearl market, however the journey was longer than we thought - 1 hour longer - and we turned back after 70 minutes when the taxi driver told us there was another 35 minutes to go.

When the taxi dropped us back at the hotel we went up to our room and had a sleep before visiting the BOA house.

The coach picked us up about 1.20pm - it was really hot and the difference from England was amazing. On the coach we saw the Bird's Nest stadium and the Watercube, it was massive. At the BOA house we met some legendary athletes such as Denise Lewis, James Cracknell, and Beth Tweddle - it was great how friendly they all were.

Fortunately we were able to interview Beth. She was really interesting to speak to as she was in the GB team at the age of 12 and her brother was in the GB U21 hockey team.

She says she will take each year as it comes in terms of 2012 but first on her agenda is a holiday! The thing which most shocked me about Beth was her interest in the whole of the GB team and that was very much the same with all the other athletes as well.

In the evening McDonalds opened the Bowling alley for a party. There was a buffet dinner and a star visit from Ronald McDonald. Being in the same room as such a legend was a true honour and it really finished the day on a high. It was an absolutely unforgettable experience!