Olympic Flame arrives in UK
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E-mail Xinhua, May 19, 2012
The Olympic flame arrived in Britain on Friday evening ready for the London 2012 torch relay after being flown from Athens, Greece.
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British soccer player and London 2012 Olympic Games ambassador David Beckham (1st L) lights the Olympic torch as the Olympic Flame arrives at RNAS Culdrose air base in Cornwall, Britain, May 18, 2012. [Xinhua/Press Association] |
Flight BA2012, a gold-coloured A319 named The Firefly, landed at RNAS Culdrose and was greeted by cheering crowds of 500 and a waiting deputy British Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
The Princess Royal carried the transportation lantern containing the flame from the aircraft and on to the tarmac. It was transferred to a London 2012 torch and David Beckham lit a cauldron, to mark the flame's arrival on British soil.
Clegg told the BBC: "Eight thousand people will pass it from hand-to-hand, a human chain that reaches the length and breadth of Britain.
"With every step, the excitement will build. Ten weeks from now, the world will watch as the flame arrives at the Olympic Stadium, bringing with it the hopes of a nation."
Chairman of Olympic organisers Locog, Coe, who went to Greece for the lighting and handover of the flame, said this next stage in the build-up to the Games was a "magical moment for any host country".
The flame will spend Friday night under guard at the air base and on Saturday morning be flown the 25 miles to Land's End by a Royal Navy search and rescue helicopter.
There, triple Olympic gold medal-winning sailor Ben Ainslie, who on Friday won a record sixth Finn world title, will be the first of 8,000 torchbearers to carry it across the country.
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