Give us extra 'ordinary' not celebrity torch bearers
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To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to today's press briefing on next year's Olympic torch relay because I expected it just to be list of places where the flame would be visiting - hardly exciting news.
Then Len Arnold walked into the room in central London and bounced up to me. He changed my mood in an instant.
Len's an extraordinary man. I met him a couple of years ago when I reported on his , just outside of London.
He seems to be one of those people for whom "life's glass" is always half full - or nearly full. As a "half empty" sort of bloke, I admire his positive thinking.
Len told me he was hoping to be running with the 2012 torch next year.
I was impressed, but not half as impressed as I was when I realised that it was who was nominating him as his top torchbearer.
The double Olympic champion has met many inspirational figures in sport from his athletics days. So, why has he chosen a man whom he came across just a year ago?
Len, and his wife Yvonne, set up their gymnastics club 18 years ago in an old industrial building.
It was a bare shell with no lighting or heating, but they transformed it, carving out gymnastic landing pits from the concrete floor and installing a sprung competition floor.
When the club faced a financial crisis three years ago, because the rent of the building escalated, they even sold their home and moved into the gym to keep the club going.
The complex has now attracted cash from the and the Lottery and can boast 700 members. The new "Europa" gym is now being built. But without Len and Yvonne's determination, thousands of kids would have missed out on gymnastics.
Britain is full of people who have devoted their lives to sport and to developing young talent. They play a crucial role in the sporting life of our country.
I hope the torch is carried by thousands of Len Arnolds. Fewer celebrities please, London 2012.
Let the extraordinary but little-known people in British sport carry the Olympic flame through our streets.
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I'm Ö÷²¥´óÐã London's Olympics Correspondent, which means I report on every aspect of the preparations for 2012. I'm going to be telling you what people are saying about London's preparations - both in the Olympic corridors of power and on the streets of the capital - and I want to hear your views.
Comment number 1.
At 23rd May 2011, Tigger wrote:I agree that getting alot of "ordinary" people to carry the torch is a good one - and certainly not celebrities (in the main)
However, for the final lighting in the arena, I think that someone is needed who will bring everyone in the stadium to their feet....and I can think of no better person than Derek Redmond: For those who do not know why, I defy anyone to watch the clip of him in the 1992 olympics without being proud he represented GBR :
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