Aspiring torchbearers for the London 2012 Olympics received the first conditional offers today to carry the Olympic Flame next summer.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) made its first 6,800 conditional offers for a total of 8,000 “inspiring people” to take part in the 70-day Olympic Torch Relay.
Those with an offer have until January 25 to accept the date they have been given, provide a copy of required documents, and confirm their uniform size and access requirements.
The final Torchbearer team will be revealed by March after candidates pass the required background checks.
Candidates are selected through a number of channels, such as public nomination campaigns run by LOCOG and Olympic sponsors, and through invitation.
Part of the torchbearers’ route looks set to break with tradition as sporting chiefs are allowing the Olympic flame to travel outside the UK into the Republic of Ireland ahead of the London games.
More than 5,600 of those selected today were chosen through four public nomination schemes run by LOCOG and the three presenting partners of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay - Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung - earlier this year.
Some 90% of the total 8,000 places have been made available to people nominated through these and similar nomination processes, while the remaining 10% will be by invitation.
Selected candidates who received a conditional offer today included a serviceman who lost his sight while saving colleagues in Iraq, the first Welsh woman to row across the Atlantic, and plenty of outstanding charity fundraisers.
Among those selected were:
* Simon Brown, 32, from Morley in Leeds nominated through Lloyds TSB’s public nomination campaign for helping young people come to terms with their loss of sight after he lost his while saving the lives of his colleagues when serving in Iraq;
Comments