AS EMERGENCY care nurses, Jessica Arthurs and Sara Lee are accustomed to putting their skills to good use on the healthcare frontline in Gwent.

But during the summer they will step up to the global stage, with small but vital roles in the world’s biggest sporting event.

For both have been selected to be part of a 4,000-strong medical recovery team for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Miss Arthurs, an emergency care sister in A&E at the Royal Gwent Hospital, will be on duty at BMX cycling and equestrian events.

And Miss Lee, an emergency nurse practitioner who recently swapped the Royal Gwent for a post at the new Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr, will cover modern pentathlon and equestrian events.

BMX racing takes place on a track next to the Olympic Park’s velodrome, while the equestrian events and the running and riding sections of the modern pentathlon will be staged in Greenwich Park.

“We’ll be looking after athletes and spectators as part of a recovery team working within the field of play,” said Miss Arthurs.

For Miss Arthurs, the Olympic Games connection extends to her father Stephen, a civil engineer, who has been involved in work on links between London’s Olympic sites.

She and Miss Lee applied for their positions through the Games Makers programme, which is selecting tens of thousands of volunteers for a range of Olympics-related duties.

The pair had to undergo a selection process before being chosen, and must attend a training event next month.