David Beckham says he does not want to be considered for the role of lighting the Olympic flame to officially opening the Games on July 27 as he believes the honour should go to an Olympian.
After not being selected to be part of Stuart Pearce’s Olympic football squad, Beckham became favourite to take on the role of lighting the cauldron with Ladbrokes quoting odds of 5/1 at the time.
However, Beckham has now said that he does not want to be considered for the role as he believes it should be reserved for someone who has achieved Olympic greatness.
“I’ve always said, lighting the torch in the stadium is something that should be done by an Olympian… who has done incredible things for our country and won gold medals,” he said.
“I’m sure whoever decides that, it will be an Olympian, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
Although Beckham has ruled himself out of the opening ceremony starring role, the former England captain had previously made no secret of his hopes of landing one of the three over-age spots in Team GB’s football squad.
However, Team GB manager Peace made the controversial decision to ignore Beckham and instead select Micah Richards, Craig Bellamy and Ryan Giggs to fill the slots.
Despite his rejection, Beckham says he is still dedicated to performing his role as an Olympic ambassador at the Games.
“Obviously, all the talk of me possibly performing in the Olympics, it would have been a very proud moment for me,” said Beckham, who was part of the bid team that helped win the Olympics for London.
“Everyone knows how proud I am of representing my country and to do it in my home town on such a big stage would have been incredible so, of course, I’m disappointed, but life goes on.
“My family are healthy, I’m pretty healthy, so at the end of the day, I’ll be there to support the GB team.
“It’s going to be a proud moment to be there and know that I was part of bringing the Olympics to the East End of London.”
Beckham said support from family, friends and fans around the world had helped him get over the disappointment of missing out on the chance to march into the stadium as an athlete.
“The support has been incredible, the letters that I’ve got, phone calls that I’ve got,” he said.
“Of course, I’ve had support from my family and friends, they are the ones that care and know how disappointed I am and I was at the time.
“Like I said, life moves on and I hope the GB team go to the Olympics and win as many medals, as many gold medals as possible.”
With Beckham now out of contention, decathlete Daley Thompson, who took double-gold at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and five-time gold medal-winning rower Sir Steve Redgrave are the favourites for the opening ceremony flame lighting role.
