Opening Ceremony London 2012 – David Beckham to light the flame – Pyrotechnics Football

 (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

David Beckham , one of Great Britians true troopers was snubbed in the leadup to the London Olympics 2012. Snubbbed is such a posh word. Essentially he was told to turn around while the Team GB was picked , then he was kicked in the rear.

In return , the LOCOG whom we’ve all grown to love and hate put thinking caps on and took a look at previous Olympic Torch Lighting Methods.

Some Memorable Lighting:

1980 – Mosco , Russia

A person approaches the final lighting spot, raises high the Torch for all to see, and then lowers it where the flame is lit. The Opening Ceremony in Russia saw the first time that a gimmick was used to assist in the lighting of the Cauldron.

1964 – Tokyo , Japan

The person chosen to be the last person to run with the Olympic Torch was Yoshinori Sakai who was born in Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945, which was the same day that the infamous atomic bomb was dropped on his city.

2000 – Sydney , Austrailia

Australian runner Cathy Freeman is the only person ever to be the final torchbearer and win a gold medal at the same Olympics. Freeman then dips the torch down into a pool of water and, courtesy of a partially submerged ring, the water itself appears to ignite. A ring of fire appears, surrounds the Athelete Freeman, and rises to become the Cauldron.

1996 – Atlanta , USA

Muhammad Ali was a gold medal winner in boxing during the 1960 Games in Rome,Italy has been years previous, diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. As he lit the flame NBC’s Bob Costas simply said, “What a moment.”

1992 – Barcelona , Spain

The Barcelona Olympic Games saw the first paralympian light the Cauldron and probablu the most daring torch lighting. Spanish archer Antonio Rebello was given the honor of lighting the Olympic Cauldron.

Now for the Rumour – STOP PRESS.

2012 – London , England.

From a leading Pyrotecnics firm in London , we discovered that a “lighting football” would need design from the ground up. Obvioulsy Athelete safety would be paramount.Various environmental factors would need to be considered , wind, speed , curve etc. We previously saw with the Archer in Barcelona that the further away the “lighter” is from the Flame , the more difficult it becomes.

We believe that David Beckham will light the flame using a Football. The football will take flight once it leaves his boot ( attached to his leg insured for Millions ) it will at some point ignite or pass through an area of ignition , and “burst” into controlled flames.

While the ball *will* arrive at the Olympic Games Cauldron ,  out Pyrotechnics contacts believe that it will physically not make contact with flame fuel but will trigger the lighting of the Flame inside Olympic Cauldron.

We wait…