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LONDON 2012: Olympic Torch route revealed

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Will it pass your house Map of Olympic Torch route revealed

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UPDATED:

08:11 GMT, 19 March 2012

A street-by-street map of the Olympic torch relay has been published.

Proposed start times of when and where the Olympic Flame will travel across Britain are also included.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe declared 'today we bring the Olympic Torch Relay to life' as organisers hope the 8,000-mile relay involving 8,000 torchbearers will be the point when enthusiasm for the Games ignites across the country.

History in the making: The 8,000-mile relay will involve 8,000 torchbearers

History in the making: The 8,000-mile relay will involve 8,000 torchbearers

Details on the two-day finale to the 70-day relay, which brings the Olympic Flame to the lighting of the cauldron to start the Games are being kept under wraps until closer to the start of the relay at Land's End on May 19.

The Olympic Torch relay

Where is it taking place

Around 7,000 people, many of whom are members of the public who have shown community spirit, courage and sporting determination, have been named as torchbearers.

The youngest unsung hero is 12 and each torchbearer will wear a white-and-gold uniform which been designed by adidas.

Route: The Torch will pass through Nottingham, the home of Robin Hood

Route: The Torch will pass through Nottingham, the home of Robin Hood

An average of 115 torchbearers a day will carry the flame during the nationwide relay, from May 19 to July 27, to the opening ceremony in Stratford, east London.

Unusual ways have been found for some of them to complete their relay leg.

A torchbearer will carry the flame on a chair lift at the Needles on the Isle of Wight, another will skate with it at the Nottingham Ice Centre and it will be rowed at Henley-on-Thames and on the River Bann in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.

High-flying activities await some torchbearers as the flame will abseil down the Dock Tower at Grimsby and swoop off the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle Gateshead on a zip wire.

In training: Officers mocked the Olympic torch relay to show how they would deal with protesters

In training: Officers mocked the Olympic torch relay to show how they would deal with protesters

Restoration work to the Flying Scotsman means that the Scots Guardsman train will now take the flame on its journey between York and Thirsk.

It will also be taken on a skywalk at Croke Park as it visits Dublin on June 6 in its only stop outside of the UK.

Neil Wilson

After protests that marred the international leg of the torch relay before the Beijing Games, the International Olympic Committee ruled that future relays would be restricted to the host country.

The overall route has been designed to also take in cultural institutions such as the Turner Gallery in Margate and Cass Sculpture Park at Goodwood as well as many of sporting stadia and racecourses. Lord Coe said:

'The flame symbolises the Olympic spirit and its journey around the UK will bring the excitement of the Games to our streets.

'Now the people know the route the Olympic Flame will be carried along and the torchbearers for their community, they can start planning how they might celebrate.'

The detailed information means that crowds of cheering supporters and onlookers will be able to plan where to be when the flame and its' torchbearer pass along their nearest high street, through their town square or past their local village shop.

Lord Coe hopes the different regions will take the chance to make it 'a moment to shine'.

The aim is the flame is brought to within 10 miles of 95 per cent of the population.

The torchbearers were chosen through the nomination schemes run by London 2012 and sponsors Samsung, Lloyds TSB and Coca-Cola. Background checks are being run on all the nominees before the final line-up is confirmed.

Daley Thompson in row with WADA

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WADA weak reply! Daley's public row with drugs agency

Daley Thompson was accustomed to competition and controversy throughout his career as one of Britain’s greatest Olympians, and now he has a new fight on his hands after the World Anti-Doping Agency sharpened their claws on Monday.

Thompson’s provocative column for Sportsmail, published last week, was highly critical of WADA’s ‘weak’ drugs policy — and they responded by publishing an open letter rebutting his accusations.

Thompson is not backing down, though, and has repeated his criticism of WADA.

Outspoken: Daley Thompson has been critical of WADA's drugs policy

Outspoken: Daley Thompson has been critical of WADA's drugs policy

HOW THE ROW UNFOLDED

Daley Thompson's Sportsmail column

David Howman's response

‘They are meant to be protecting my sport for me, the athletes and the spectators,’ he said.

‘At least WADA have sat up and taken notice of my criticism.’

They
have. His views prompted a robust statement from WADA director general
David Howman, who addressed the double Olympic champion directly via the
organisation’s website.

He said: ‘The alternative would be to have anti-doping rules that vary from country to country and sport to sport, which would be a return to the dark ages of anti-doping and a problem which existed during your time as an elite athlete.

‘Indeed that was the very problem that led to the formation of WADA and the writing of a uniform code.

Speaking out: Daley Thompson

Speaking out: Daley Thompson

‘To create the harmonisation for all
sports and all countries that we have is a huge international
achievement, not replicated in any other walk of life.

‘The code has certainly given the “clarity” to anti-doping that you claim was missing.’

The issue has taken on a sharper focus in recent weeks because of the British Olympic Association’s fight to keep their lifetime ban on serious drug cheats.

The BOA are out of step with the rest of the world, who follow WADA’s code that stipulates a maximum two-year ban.

If the BOA lose a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing in London on Monday, sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar — a key component in Mark Cavendish’s assault on cycling’s road race — will be free to compete at London 2012.

Despite that, Howman insisted the war on drugs is being won, adding: ‘Testing is significantly more effective today than it was in your day (or) 10 years ago.

‘And if you were competing today I can guarantee that you would notice the difference.

‘You would know that the athletes lining up alongside you are no longer able to abuse drugs with impunity.’

But speaking to Sportsmail from South Africa, where he is on a charity bike ride, Thompson renewed his attack.

‘Well done WADA!’ he said sarcastically.

Chance: Dwain Chambers could earn a reprieve and compete in London

Chance: Dwain Chambers could earn a reprieve and compete in London

‘After spending hundreds of millions of dollars you have brought harmonisation for all sports and all countries except one! So your diplomacy has enabled you to secure measly two-year bans on serious drug cheats.

‘It means I can now watch the greatest show on Earth, the Olympics, with a drug cheat coming back in every other heat and you making huge savings in legal fees for yourselves.

‘You say if I were competing today that I would notice the difference — well, did you ever compete

‘I ask because, as an athlete, one of the things you want is a level playing field.

‘While you can never eradicate cheating, I want the penalties to match the crime because those cheats not only steal money from the Lottery — why is that not a crime — they cheat other competitors and fans, lessen other people’s achievements and take people’s dreams away (by taking their places on teams they don’t deserve to be on).

Waiting game: David Millar is also currently banned from competing

Waiting game: David Millar is also currently banned from competing

‘I want the guardians of my sport to look after the guy/girl who just missed out on their first international vest or an Olympic place to a drug cheat.’

Thompson’s belief that serious drug offenders should be banned from the Olympics for life has retained the overwhelming support of British team members.

He added: ‘PS: I’m betting it wasn’t too hard to get some of those countries to sign up to your weak code as they would have wanted some of their cheating stars back sooner rather than later.

‘What you have done has not given clarity but found a consensus amongst the cheats as to what punishment they will take without going to court.

‘PPS: I was going to find an organisation that had spent so much and achieved so frugally, but we have any number of Quangos in the UK that are right up there with you.’