The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece, several months before the Olympic Games. This ceremony starts the Olympic torch relay, which formally ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Through 2022, the flame would continue to burn in the cauldron for the duration of the Games, until it was extinguished during the Olympic closing ceremony. In 2024, electric lighting and mist were used to create a simulated flame for the Olympic cauldron, with the actual flame kept in a lantern exhibited at an adjacent location. That lantern was then taken by French swimmer Léon Marchand from Jardins des Tuileries and ceremonially "transferred" to the Stade de France at the start of the Closing Ceremony; there it was finally extinguished just after the IOC president declared officially closed the Games.
Kelly Ann Aston is a Welsh badminton player. She has represented Wales and Great Britain in regional and international competitions, including the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, winning gold in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, and beat world number one Ye Zhaoying of China in the 1999 IBF World Championships.
The Queen's Baton Relay is a relay around the world held prior to the beginning of the Commonwealth Games. The Baton carries a message from the Head of the Commonwealth, currently King Charles III. The Relay traditionally begins at Buckingham Palace in London as a part of the city's Commonwealth Day festivities. The King entrusts the baton to the first relay runner. At the Opening Ceremony of the Games, the final relay runner hands the torch back to the King or his representative, who reads the message aloud to officially open the Games. The Queen's Baton Relay is similar to the Olympic Torch Relay. As a result of Queen Elizabeth II's death on 8 September 2022, the Baton Relay will be renamed as the Kings's Baton Relay in honour of her successor, King Charles III, for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from March 24 until August 8, 2008, prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, with the theme of "one world, one dream". Plans for the relay were announced on April 26, 2007, in Beijing, China. The relay, also called by the organizers as the "Journey of Harmony", lasted 129 days and carried the torch 137,000 km (85,000 mi) – the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay since the tradition was started ahead of the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Rebecca Adlington is an English former competitive swimmer who specialised in freestyle events in international competition. She won two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-metre freestyle and 800-metre freestyle, breaking the 19-year-old world record of Janet Evans in the 800-metre final. Adlington was Britain's first Olympic swimming champion since 1988, and the first British swimmer to win two Olympic gold medals since 1908. After winning her first World Championship gold over 800 metres in 2011, along with silver in the 400 metres at the same meet, she won bronze medals in both the women's 400-metre and 800-metre freestyle events in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Adlington is one of the few people to have won Olympic Games, World Championships, European championships and Commonwealth Games gold medals.
The 2010 Winter Olympics Torch Relay was a 106-day run, from October 30, 2009, until February 12, 2010, prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Plans for the relay were originally announced November 21, 2008, by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). Communities were initially informed in June 2008, but the locations were not announced for "security reasons". Exact routes were later announced several weeks before the start of the torch relay.
Tyler Rix is a British singer songwriter, saxophonist & international model. Rix signed to Universal Music Group and his debut album, Ascent, was released in February 2009 reaching number one in the Classics & Jazz Charts.
The 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from 19 May until 27 July, prior to the London 2012 Summer Olympics. The torch bearer selection process was announced on 18 May 2011.
The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics torch relay was run from 23 July until 14 August 2010, prior to the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics held in Singapore. The torch relay was termed The Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame, or JYOF, by the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC). It began with the traditional flame lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece on 23 July 2010, and was followed by a 13-day round the world tour across five cities, namely Berlin, Germany; Dakar, Senegal; Mexico City, Mexico; Auckland, New Zealand; and Seoul, South Korea. Following the international leg, the torch arrived in host city Singapore on 6 August 2010 for the domestic leg.
Imogen Bankier is a businesswoman and former badminton player from Scotland. After starting playing the sport at the age of 9, Bankier won the national championships at every age level from Under 17 upwards. The highlight of her professional career was reaching the final of the mixed doubles at the 2011 World Championships in Wembley, London. She and her partner Chris Adcock were defeated in the match by the Chinese team of Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei.
A number of controversies and concerns associated with the 2012 Summer Olympics in London became the subject of public debate and media commentary.
Susan Egelstaff is a Scottish badminton player. Egelstaff won team bronze at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, took women's singles bronze four years later in Melbourne, and finished fourth in the singles in Delhi. In 2012, she competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She failed to progress past the group stage, beating Maja Tvrdy but losing to the 12th seed Sayaka Sato in three games.
Episode 4466 of the BBC soap opera EastEnders was broadcast on BBC One on 23 July 2012, between 9pm and 9.30pm. It was written by Matt Evans, directed by Clive Arnold, and executively produced by Lorraine Newman. It included seven minutes of live footage, during which the character of Billy Mitchell, played by Perry Fenwick, carried the Olympic Torch as an official torch bearer as part of the official torch relay for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and Lola Pearce, played by Danielle Harold, gave birth to her daughter. The storyline for the episode was announced in November 2011, with the fact that Lola would give birth being reported in July 2012. The episode received positive reviews, with Karen Edwards from Heat calling it "special" and praising Harold's performance, and Jane Rackham from the Radio Times calling it "highly topical", though Boyd Hilton from Heat felt that Billy's torch bearing was a "gimmick" and the whole episode should have been live. It was watched by an average of 7.32 million people on its initial broadcast. It was accompanied by a special, one-off BBC Red Button episode called "Billy's Olympic Nightmare". The episode received an All About Soap award nomination for Best Episode, under the name "Billy and the Olympic Torch", and a British Soap Award nomination for "Spectacular Scene of the Year", both in 2013.
Georgina Sophie Twigg is an English international field hockey player and an Olympic gold medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Adriana Dos Santos Araújo is a Brazilian professional boxer. As an amateur she won a bronze medal in the lightweight division at the 2012 Olympics and qualified for the 2016 Olympics at the same weight.
The 2000 Summer Olympics torch relay was the transferral of the Olympic Flame to Sydney, Australia, that built up to the 2000 Summer Olympics. The torch tavelled to various island nations as part of a tour of Oceania before beginning an extensive journey around Australia. For the first time the Flame was taken underwater, with a special flare-like torch taken on a dive down to the Great Barrier Reef. At the opening ceremony the cauldron was lit by Aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman.
The London 2012 Olympic Torch was carried around the UK for 70 days in the London 2012 Torch Relay, from 19 May to 27 July 2012.
Kirsty Gilmour is a Scottish badminton player who has represented both Scotland and Great Britain.
Oscar Roël Brandon is a Surinamese badminton player, coach and Olympic team manager. He competed for Suriname at the 1996 Summer Olympics as a badminton player in the Men's singles event. And he was "chef de mission" for Suriname at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Raymond Leslie Puckett is a former New Zealand distance runner, who represented his country at the Olympic Games in 1960 and 1964, and at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Coached by Arthur Lydiard, Puckett was the first New Zealander to complete a marathon in under two hours and 30 minutes.
