Olympic flame begins seven-day tour of London

PanARMENIAN.Net - Former Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci and ex-basketball star John Amaechi will carry the Olympic flame as it begins a seven-day tour of London on Saturday, July 21.

According to AFP, the pair will take the torch relay to the roof of the North Greenwich Arena, the venue on the banks of the River Thames that will host gymnastics events and basketball finals during the Games.

Footballer Fabrice Muamba, who suffered a heart attack during an FA Cup match in March, will also carry the flame at the end of the 64th day its 8,000-mile (12,800-kilometer) relay around Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

He will take it through the east London borough of Waltham Forest, where he lived as a boy after moving to Britain from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Also on Saturday's line-up is Britain's oldest marathon runner Fauja Singh, aged 101 years old, who will carry the torch through the east London borough of Newham.

He started running marathons at the age of 89 and has since completed nine of them, including the 2012 London Marathon in April which he finished in 7 hours 49 minutes. He also carried the flame while it was in London for the 2004 Athens Games.

The flame's London tour follows its dramatic arrival in the British capital on Friday when it was flown in by military helicopter and lowered to the ground by a marine commando.

The flame was to then spend the night locked up in the Tower of London, where Queen Elizabeth II keeps her ceremonial jewels and where the Olympic medals are also being stored for safekeeping.