Torch handed over to London delegation

The Olympic torch was formally handed over from Greece to organisers of the London 2012 Olympic Games in a ceremony in Athens yesterday.

In damp weather at the Panathenaic Stadium that hosted the 1896 Olympics, the torch was presented to Princess Anne by the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Spyros Capralos.

“It is with deep emotion and exceptional honour that I hand over the Olympic flame, wishing you every success in the organisation of the Olympic Games in London,” Capralos said.

Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II’s daughter, who is a former Olympian and current British Olympic Association president, headed a British delegation that included London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe, Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson and London Mayor Boris Johnson.

“For the past eight days our two countries have connected in a very special way in the spirit of peace and friendship of the flame and the values of this great Olympic movement,” Coe said in reference to the Greek torch relay that has been running since the torch was lit at Olympia last week.

“Today’s handover is an occasion of international significance and of importance as the flame belongs to the world.”

He said millions of people in Britain were getting ready to welcome the torch.

“If the Olympic Games is about celebrating the best athletes in the world, the Olympic spirit is about celebrating the best in ourselves and our neighborhoods. We have found the very best in our torchbearers who like Olympic athletes will inspire a generation,” Coe said.

He concluded: “This summer we welcome the world to London and we look forward to the incredible events that will unfold, that will capture the imagination of the world.”

The British delegation, which also included football superstar David Beckam, left Athens yesterday to take the torch to Cornwall in southwest England to begin its 70-day journey around Britain and Ireland.

Beckham was part of London’s winning bid team in the contest to stage the Olympics and looks set to be included in Britain’s football squad for the Games. During the final push in the bidding campaign in 2005, Beckham said he was dreaming of the day the Olympics would be staged in east London, where he grew up.

The torch relay starts tomorrow at Land’s End, the southwest tip of England, to begin an 8,000-mile journey around Britain, with a detour to also visit the Irish capital Dublin.

It will culminate in the flame being brought to the Olympic Stadium for the opening of the Games on July 27.