LONDON, 27 June 2004 — The Olympic torch relay for the Athens Games in August arrived in rainy London yesterday starting its day-long journey through the host city of the 1948 Olympics at rainy Wimbledon.
The flame was brought to London from Paris by 75-year-old Sylvia Disley, a bronze medalist from the Games 56 years ago.
At Wimbledon, it was lit for the London leg by Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a sub-four-minute mile back in 1954.
Tennis star Tim Henman, the hope of the nation on the lawns of the All England club and an Olympic doubles silver-medalist from 1996, served as the first runner.
Henman, dressed in blue and white British Olympic colors, jogged with the flame held high out of Center Court, up the brick-paved pedestrian path alongside the Millennium building, around Court One and out to the gates of the club.
Accompanied by four escort runners, he then passed the flaming silver chalice to Virginia Wade, the last Briton to win the Wimbledon event, in 1977.
The torch relay covering 50 kilometers and passing many London landmarks will see further famous torch-bearers such as cricketer Ian Botham, boxer Frank Bruno, businessman Richard Branson and the wife of Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, Heather Mills.
The torch will travel via runners but also by boat on the River Thames and London’s two most famous transportation means, a double-decker bus and black cab.
The London leg ends at The Mall where rowing icon Sir Steven Redgrave was to light the cauldron - followed by a free concert featuring among others Ozzy Osbourne, James Brown and Rod Steward.
The Olympic flame was lit March 25 in ancient Olympia for the August 13 opening ceremony of the Athens Games which run until Aug. 29.
For the first time the 78,000-kilometers relay included an international leg, featuring 33 cities (among the all previous Olympic host cities) June 5-July 4.
Arafat Announces Olympic Truce
In Ramallah, West Bank, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat promised to do all he could to ensure a truce was observed in the Middle East conflict during the Olympic Games in Athens in August.
“I undertake to you to respect a truce during the Olympics,” Arafat told reporters at his West Bank headquarters as he lit the Palestinians’ Olympic torch.
Arafat called on Israelis to “work together with the Palestinians to achieve a just and lasting peace for the sake of our children’s future.”
