She has joined the likes of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Dame Kelly Holmes in supporting the campaign to get the sport into the Olympics. 

 

Her support comes as Olympic Minister Tessa Jowell called for an end to “gender discrepancies” at the Games, urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to provide more medal opportunities for women.

 

Currently men can compete in 164 events, whilst women can compete in just 124.

 

More than a million women and girls play netball in Britain each week, with 20 million across 70 countries taking part in the sport worldwide. 

 

However, despite its popularity, netball is not classed as a participation sport in the Olympics, even though it is part of at the Commonwealth Games.

 

The Co-operative, which is supporting the bid, surveyed customers in 2,000 of its food stores and some 600,000 members of the public registered their support, with another 40,000 backing the campaign online.

 

The bid has also attracted the high-profile support of Cherie Blair, former England football captain Bryan Robson and cricketer Mark Ramprakash.

 

Lewis said: “I’m proud to be backing the bid to include netball in the Olympic Games.

 

"I used to play netball when I was younger and so I know quite a bit about the game.

 

"It’s far quicker and much more physically demanding than most people think, and in my opinion the game definitely has all the skills deserving of a place at the Olympic Games.

 

"Winning an Olympic gold medal was the pinnacle of my athletics career, and I would love to see the same opportunity given to the world’s best netball players.

 

“Netball is played by over a million people in this country, and I can’t believe it’s not included in the Olympics already.

 

"In the past when I’ve visited schools, there are so many girls who love the sport, and for them to aspire to playing at the Olympics would help to drive a positive change within women’s sport.

 

"We should be giving women as many opportunities as possible to showcase their talent, especially at the Olympics, which is the biggest sporting stage in the world.

 

"It is the right time for the IOC to start considering the sport on its shortlist for inclusion.”

 

The earliest netball can be included in the Olympics is in 2020, when it could be up against cricket, which has also started a campaign to get the Twenty20 version of the sport included.

 

The programme for London 2012 was decided by the International Olympic Committee Session in Singapore in July 2005 when baseball and softball were controversially dropped but not replaced.

 

There are seven sports fighting it out to be included on the programme for 2016, when the Games will be held in either Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo.

 

The IOC will be able to choose from baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, squash and softball at its Session in Copenhagen in October 2009.

 

There are hopes that netball can be included as a demonstration in London but the IOC scrapped demonstration sports after the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

 

Debbie Robinson, the director of food retail marketing at The Co-operative, which sponsors the Netball Superleague, said: "We strongly feel that netball, which is recognised as being one of the most popular team sports played by girls and women, both at home and abroad, should be played at the Olympics.

 

“We’re delighted that Denise has joined the campaign, and we are determined to support netball’s Olympic bid and continue to promote the profile and development of the game.

 

“We were pleased to see Tessa Jowell speak on behalf of women’s sport, and fully support her view that women should be given opportunities to compete at the highest level - with netball providing a tremendous opportunity for this to take place.”

 

Those wishing to support the bid can sign up at www.netballolympicbid.com.