Who should light the Olympic flame?

[sidelined]

I think Bannister, charming man though he is, would be a poor choice - far too parochial. Nobody under 50 who isn't an athletics freak knows who he is, and running a paced race in Oxford isn't the same as taking on the world's best in the fevered cauldron of Olympic competition. And the record didn't last. And the world's gone metric anyway. I nominate a photogenic child from Stratford.

[paul]

An interesting long-shot would be
miracle-man Muamba
(if he is fit enough which, judging by recent news, he may well be).
He ticks a lot of boxes, for example:
1) not just a cliched "sporting miracle" but an actual miracle.
2) far better known globally than any other candidate.
3) impeccable record of sporting acheivement, having represented England at every available age level.
4) hopefully irritate the "plastic" morons, while being, in his career, a near-perfect example of what makes
Britain great.
...

Disadvantages:
1) has Arsenal connections! (er,... but then, so does Mo Farah!)

and appeals to the morbid public sentimentality that seems to have engulfed the British ever since Princess Di died.

Steve Redgrave has to be by some way the best qualified.

Laps, the Muamba situation could not be more different from Princess Di.
For one thing ....
Hang on, I don't need to explain, I can just refer you to today's Grauniad.

[AllanW]

Hang on, I don't need to explain, I can just refer you to today's Grauniad.

Do you mean the custodial sentence handed down to the undergraduate for racist comments made on twitter (to other twitter users who objected to his initial comment about Muamba I might add) or to Mark Lawson's pap article?

[paul]

Allan, the article in the sports section about why it is nothing like the Princess Di phenomenon.
I'm afraid I haven't read the News section... ...yet (I hope you believe that last word, LOL).

BTW, what does "pap" mean?

[AllanW]

Allan, the article in the sports section about why it is nothing like the Princess Di phenomenon.
I'm afraid I haven't read the News section... ...yet (I hope you believe that last word, LOL).

BTW, what does "pap" mean?

Hehe and I've not got to the Sport section yet so we're quits

'Pap' as in the thin, pre-digested gruel fed to babies; meant to be substantial and nutritious but ultimately unfulfilling. I'm not a fan of that article

[Laps]

Laps, the Muamba situation could not be more different from Princess Di.
For one thing ....
Hang on, I don't need to explain, I can just refer you to today's Grauniad.

Whatever the Guardian article says, Paul, to me this seems to come under the definition of what the disrespectful and cynical are starting to call mourn porn. Media led mass gushes of public sentimentality over the deaths or illnesses of people with whom they little knowledge or connection.

Fabrice Muamba is apparently a lovely lad. I wish him a full and speedy recovery, just as I do the millions of other people around the world whose lives are currently in danger through injury, illness, famine.......

Heaven forbid that a media manufactured hero should be chosen for this honour when we have plenty of Olympians who can do the necessary.

[Geoff]

O'Sullivan chosen to carry Olympic Torch in Dublin

March 28 - Sonia O'Sullivan, the country's most successful distance runner, will carry the Olympic Torch in Dublin on June 6, it has been announced.

O'Sullivan, the Sydney 2000 Olympic 5,000 metres silver medallist and the 1995 world champion, is among the country's most high-profile sports figures and will be Ireland's Chef de Mission at London 2012.

"She is our Chef to Mission for London, an iconic athlete, and fully entitled to it," said Patrick Hickey, the President of the Olympic Council of Ireland.

The historic Dublin part of the route will take in Croke Park, the Garden of Remembrance and Eden Quay, also crossing the Samuel Beckett Bridge on its journey to Mansion House in Dawson Street for midday, where there will be a ceremony with the 40 Torchbearers.

The Torch arrives in Dublin the day after being in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and marks a deviation from International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules limiting the Torch Relay to the host country of the Olympic Games, after London 2012 were successful in winning special permission to show the heritage and sporting ambitions of Ireland.

http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/ ... -in-dublin

[Geoff]

Flaming row! Coe wants Daley but Redgrave is his big rival for Olympic flame

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympi ... z20V4sIqup

Out of the two I would pick Daley but suspect it may be neither!

[Laps]

Flaming row! Coe wants Daley but Redgrave is his big rival for Olympic flame

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympi ... z20V4sIqup

Out of the two I would pick Daley but suspect it may be neither!

Neither !!! Who could it be?

Mental torchure.

[Geoff]

London 2012 Olympics: five athletes may light flame at opening ceremony
One of the men deciding who will light the Olympic cauldron at Friday night’s opening ceremony has given a strong hint yet that it will not be Sir Steve Redgrave or Daley Thompson.

Instead, the British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Hunt said: “It will be a wow moment,” indicating it may be the method of lighting the flame, rather than the person given the honour, that will be the defining moment of the night.

Hunt said the decision about who lit the flame had been debated with Locog chief executive Paul Deighton and had now been made.

“It is a discussion that has taken quite some time,” Hunt said. “The ceremonies committee makes a recommendation and we can support that. We have come to a mutually agreeable decision.”

The ceremonies team, led by Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle, are keen that the lighting of the flame is coherent to the theme of the night – the Isles of Wonder – and is integrated into the cinematic concept of the ceremony. But while there has been strong support for Redgrave, Thompson and Roger Bannister, there have been murmurs that perhaps five athletes might be involved, symbolising the five rings of the Olympic movement and that global figures such as Muhammad Ali or Aung San Suu Kyi could play a role.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympi ... emony.html

Basically, no one knows whether it will be one, two or a group and no one knows how it will be lit! I can't see a politician such as San Suu Kyi or Mandella being involved. It will definitely have a wow factor and probably be very emotional. Almost certainly the likes of Thompson, Redgrave, Kelly Holmes, Pinsent, Bannister and other legends will be part of the pre-lighting build up but then........???

[ultragirl]

I think Johnathan Edwards should triple jump with the torch and pass it onto Colin jackson to hurdle with it then on to steve smith to high jump with it then on to steve Backley to throw it tied to a javelin into the recepticle

But seriously there is only one athlete for me who fits the bill and that is Daley Thompson The skill level required to master ten events and the time and energy required is enormous and lets not forget he had ten events in which to mess up and lose the Gold then he came out and won it again at the next games. This is on another level to Seb Coes awesome achievments, I put Redgrave on a par with Seb but both lower than Daley Thompson. All Redgarve had to do was learn to row and do it faster for longer than anyone else, I had to smile when he denigraded the decthlon in the way he did, this just showed his ignorance and bitterness.

[Mr Me]

Please not Redgrave anyone but, can't they just arrange for him to have another life time achievment award somewhere else at the same time, so hes nowhere near the stadium.

I get the feeling they are trying to think outside the box on this one a bit. For example you could have two old rivals coming together, maybe zola budd and mary decker lighting the flame together that would be a nice symobl to start of the games. It will be someone off the radar who nonones mentiond. If its Redgrave i'm throwing stuff at the tele.

[ultragirl]

They might have Coe and Ovett with a torch each racing up the steps to see who lights it first... Or Daley and Hingsen

[taffy]

I hope it's Redgrave or Tanni gray Thompson.

An out of the box poignant one would be Derek Redmond .

But if Becks yet has a part to play, it might be him and that girl who was in manchester.

[Mr Me]

An out of the box poignant one would be Derek Redmond

Apart from the whole cheating on his wife thing.

How about an olympian from each of the home nations (liz mccolgan, colin jackson, mary peters, (take your pick from england) or one from every decade, we can have a group, can't we?

[iain]

Not TGT she is a paralympian not an olympian. What is wrong with Redgrave Mr Me?

[Occasional Hope]

How about an olympian from each of the home nations (liz mccolgan, colin jackson, mary peters, (take your pick from england) or one from every decade, we can have a group, can't we?

If they did that, they'd want to have people from different sports as well.

[Mr Me]

What is wrong with Redgrave Mr Me?

I like the guy but hes had so many awards and honours now that its getting a bit tired, the life time achievment award at last years SPOTY was just an award too many for me. We get it, he was a good rower.

Why i think he shouldn't:

Too obvious

People outside the UK don't know who he is.

Prefer someone from a traditional olympic sport rather than a modern one.

[sidelined]

What is wrong with Redgrave Mr Me?

Redgrave would be a dull, predictable choice, certainly not a 'wow' moment. I've gone right off him since he criticised Daley Thompson, and anyway, do we have to have a white middle-aged man? It's a pity the youngest member of Team GB, the 15-year-old gymnast Rebecca Tunney, has to compete the next day and so presumably would be ineligible.

[iain]

Don't be pathetic, there is nothing wrong with white middle aged men, they're the most representative of the country :p I can see he is a bit boring, but I don't think there is anything wrong with him.

[Ursus]

Wiggins B.....

[djhdjh]

Is racing the following day. I hope they come up with something different that no one saw coming rather than just one famous person running up and lighting it - there's no one exactly fitting for it like Freeman was in 2000 or Ali in 1996.

[Occasional Hope]

Perhaps they could train one of the sheep to do it

[BigGut]

Why not go the whole hog and select two men who epitomises the spirit of the games. Step forward Derek And Jim Redmond.

[alex800]

Being a surviving medallist from the 1948 Games , I'd love to see Dorothy Tyler lighting the Olympic flame, but she's in her 90's so is that realistic? Maybe not. If I had the option of picking a T&F athlete , my choice would be Tessa Sanderson - an Olympic gold medallist and a SIX-time Olympian.

[ultragirl]

Daley Thompson is the finest athlete of all era's, anyone not capable of understanding the depth and bredth of his achievments need to under go a study of athletics to degree standards in order to gain a full appreciation of what it takes to win two Olympic Golds at the decathlon, it is a phenonemal achievement, far and beyond rowing quickly

[iain]

While I don't agree, I can see where Sir Steve was coming from. Although it is strange coming from a rower :p

[mump boy]

While I don't agree, I can see where Sir Steve was coming from. Although it is strange coming from a rower :p

Not to denigrate his achievements but i think any criticism from someone who has never won a medal without the help of at least 1 other person and in a sport with so few participating countries has to be seen as rather unfortunate

[SteveK26]

i must be more out of touch than usual
What did Sir Steve say about Daley?

It seems fairly clear that it wont be one person lighting the flame.

[Mr Me]

I've been thinking why I don't want sir steve, my main reason and it sounds weird but he hasn't been to an olympics and majorly failed. Felt whats it like NOT to be the hero, to dissapoint the entire nation, to have victory taken away by something outside your control. For that reason, he gets awards, knighthoods etc. etc. I would prefer someone whos ridden the rolercoaster of sport, known the highs and the lows and maybe doesn't get the recognition that they deserve. The unsung hero.

and by the way steve's comments about daley were

"'Obviously, Daley was a great athlete. Some people, Seb Coe included, think he's the best athlete ever. My personal view is that he doesn't make the top five of great British Olympians.

'I'd put Seb above him, and Kelly Holmes, certainly Ben Ainslie, and, all modesty aside, myself and Matt Pinsent. Arguably, Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins deserve to be rated higher. I say that because, to me, athletes compete at the decathlon if they are great all-rounders instead of being supreme in one event.'