By IANS,
London : London Olympics Organising Committee chairman Sebastian Coe nominated Daley Thompson as his choice to light the Olympic flame in just over a year’s time.
Coe, who like Thompson won gold at the 1980 and 1984 Games, said that he has already ruled himself out of the running to light the cauldron July 27, 2012 in the Olympic Stadium. He said that if it was for him to select, it would be Thompson because he was “a mate” and also happened to be “the greatest Olympian we’ve delivered”.
Coe, however, said that he has now left the selection to Danny Boyle, the film director who is overseeing the opening ceremony.
“I have now formally decided I am going to absent myself from any further discussions and judgments – not that we’ve had any yet – but I am now out of it. Now that I’ve absented myself from that decision, that’s where my vote would go,” Coe was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
“It will be a synthesis of our creative teams and Danny Boyle. It may be quite obvious at the time. I think we rather assume it needs to be an Olympian. If you think back to 1948 it was a really unknown 400m runner, John Mark. My gut instinct is it needs to be an Olympian,” said Coe.
Other names which are doing the rounds are, Steve Redgrave, Britain’s most successful Olympian, with five rowing golds between 1984 and 2000, Dame Kelly Holmes, Chris Hoy and David Beckham.