Get your hands on the Olympic torch

By Lara Cerroni

22 May 2011

TOWER Hamlets will welcome the Olympic torch to London just seven days before the start of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – and you could carry it.

With the torch arriving on July 20 next year, residents are being called upon to nominate inspirational people from their community who they think should carry it across the borough the following day.

Following its arrival in Tower Hamlets, the Olympic Flame will continue its journey to the other host boroughs – Greenwich, Hackney, Newham and Waltham Forest – before visiting every other London borough and then arriving at the Olympic Stadium on July 27.

Mayor Lutfur Rahman said: “It’s fantastic that Tower Hamlets’ residents will be the first in the capital to celebrate the arrival of the torch in London. It gives everybody in the borough the chance to get involved in the excitement surrounding London 2012.

“And it’s a great opportunity for us to highlight the unique character of Tower  Hamlets.”

He added: “We’re working with the London Games organising committee (LOCOG) to make sure that the arrival of the torch is an event to remember, and I want as many residents as possible to nominate torch bearers to reward the people in their community that help make Tower Hamlets a great place to live.”

Sebastian Coe, chair of LOCOG, said: “The Olympic Flame will shine a light right across the host city in the final week of the Olympic Torch Relay and I hope people right across London start to think about rewarding someone truly inspirational and give someone they know who has gone beyond their personal best, their moment to shine by nominating them to carry the Olympic Flame.”

To nominate someone to take part in the Olympic Torch Relay and help carry the flame through Tower Hamlets, visit www.london2012.com/olympictorchrelay. The deadline for making nominations is 11.59pm on Wednesday, June 29 this year.