Who Will Light the Cauldron?

Tencent sports: The London Olympic opening ceremony has only several days to go. As details of the "countryside" ceremony have already been revealed, what the spectators concern the most might be that who is going to light the Olympic Cauldron at the opening ceremony and how the flame will be ignited. According to a British rowing athlete, the flame lighter is not necessary to be a British icon, instead, it might be a seven-year-old child who was born on the same day that the UK won the Olympic bid.

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Though the London Olympic Committee held its cards close to the chest, the British media still captured some key information. A previous report from The Daily Telegraph indicated that the British rower Steven Redgrave and the decathlete Daley Thompson would ignite the flame hand-in-hand.

These two are legendary figures in UK's sports history: 50-year-old Redgrave claims to be the greatest rower as he has attended five Olympics consecutively and in each session he grabbed a gold; 54-year-old Thompson, who won two medals in his four Olympic Games and broke the world record for four times, also possesses an important position in the decathlon history.

However, the two athletes who are in their 50s seem not get well along with each other. "Steve Redgrave is not in the same class as Sebastian Coe. He is a rower, but I think track and field is the toughest sport in the Olympics, which means the rewards are greater," said Thompson. When asked whether he could be the choice to light the flame, he answered, "It would be an honor to do it. (If selected,) I should be the most famous man on earth." But he also said that nobody has told him that he was going to do it yet.

After David Beckham and Sebastian Coe ruling out of the flame lighter, the two legends prefer to take Seb as a comparison. Sebastian Coe is a former middle and long distance runner, the world record holder in three events at the same time, and the winner of two golds and two silvers in the Olympics. To Thompson's comments, Redgrave responded that Thompson was not among the top five Olympians in UK's history, and Seb Coe should be ranked above him.

Yet according to Redgrave's friend Pinsent, a four Olympic golds holder, both Redgrave and Thompson are not going to light the flame. He said, "I don't think it will be anyone we have ever heard of. It could be someone symbolic, it could be someone from the east of London who was born on the day that we won the right to host the games."

On July 6th 2005, London won the bid of hosting the 2012 Olympics at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. If what Pinsent said was true, the main torch bearer at the opening ceremony may be a seven-year-old child.