For me, today has seen yet another major milestone in my life! Some of you already knew what I am about to reveal to you, and it truely has killed me keeping my mouth shut since I received the official email on Friday from LOCOG. I found out late Friday afternoon that I am going to be part of sporting history and officially play an active part in the greatest celebration of sporting achievement that is known around the world by being selected to carry the Olympic Torch.
8000 inspirational people have been selected to carry the flame alongside big names in sport and entertainment on a relay that will pass by within one hour travelling distance of every household in the land. This is a sporting event that we may never see again on our soil in our lifetime, and I am proud to be selected, all in the same year as seeing the birth of Freya my first child and representing GBR in the European Age Group Sprint Triathlon Championships. What a story I can tell her when she grows up. Not just a story she can only dream about, but a story that she has played so much an active part in manufacturing. I owe her absolutely everything to how I have turned out.
To me, all I did was look at my life, and how unhealthy I was. Deciding that i wanted to do something just to keep fit, I started by jogging around the fields until, like Forrest Gump, I just kept running!!! I never thought for one minute that my story and achievements would touch so many people, not just family and close friends where this all stemmed from, but now from messages I am getting from around the country and the world, from people I dont even know and have never met before, urging me to continue to blog as the stories they are reading are inspiring and a demonstration of 'Real Life', and what shear grit and determination, confidence in your own ability and support of others can help you to achieve. How can i not thank Charlotte, trust me she is the most amazing wife anyone could ever ask for, for her support in this as I have said before, but I make no apologies to mention it again.
Charlotte nominated me as an inspitational figure because at the time, I had lost 4.5 stone. Add another stone to that now and you can see the man that stands before you. I was shortlisted by Coca Cola as a potential torchbearer, where my story was discussed by a LOCOG panel and provisionally accepted back in December subject to security checks on my background.
The Olympic Movement uses symbols to represent the ideals embodied in the Olympic Charter. The Olympic symbol, better known as the Olympic Rings consists of five intertwined rings and represents the unity of the five inhabited continents (America, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe). The colored version of the rings—blue, yellow, black, green, and red—over a white field forms the Olympic Flag. These colors were chosen because every nation had at least one of them on its national flag. The flag was adopted
in 1914 but flown for the first time only at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. It has since been hoisted during each celebration of the Games.
The Olympic Motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius, a Latin expression meaning "Faster, Higher, Stronger". Coubertin's ideals are further expressed in the Olympic Creed:
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
Months before each Games, the Olympic Flame is lit in Olympia in a ceremony that reflects ancient Greek rituals. A female performer, acting as a priestess, ignites a torch by placing it inside a Parabolic Mirror which focuses the sun's rays; she then lights the torch of the first relay bearer, thus initiating the Olympic torch relay that will carry the flame to the host city's Olympic stadium, where it plays an important role in the opening ceremony.
Though the flame has been an Olympic symbol since 1928, the torch relay was introduced at the 1936 Summer Games, as part of the German government's attempt to promote its National Socialist ideology.
8000 inspirational people have been selected to carry the flame alongside big names in sport and entertainment on a relay that will pass by within one hour travelling distance of every household in the land. This is a sporting event that we may never see again on our soil in our lifetime, and I am proud to be selected, all in the same year as seeing the birth of Freya my first child and representing GBR in the European Age Group Sprint Triathlon Championships. What a story I can tell her when she grows up. Not just a story she can only dream about, but a story that she has played so much an active part in manufacturing. I owe her absolutely everything to how I have turned out.
To me, all I did was look at my life, and how unhealthy I was. Deciding that i wanted to do something just to keep fit, I started by jogging around the fields until, like Forrest Gump, I just kept running!!! I never thought for one minute that my story and achievements would touch so many people, not just family and close friends where this all stemmed from, but now from messages I am getting from around the country and the world, from people I dont even know and have never met before, urging me to continue to blog as the stories they are reading are inspiring and a demonstration of 'Real Life', and what shear grit and determination, confidence in your own ability and support of others can help you to achieve. How can i not thank Charlotte, trust me she is the most amazing wife anyone could ever ask for, for her support in this as I have said before, but I make no apologies to mention it again.
Charlotte nominated me as an inspitational figure because at the time, I had lost 4.5 stone. Add another stone to that now and you can see the man that stands before you. I was shortlisted by Coca Cola as a potential torchbearer, where my story was discussed by a LOCOG panel and provisionally accepted back in December subject to security checks on my background.
The Olympic Movement uses symbols to represent the ideals embodied in the Olympic Charter. The Olympic symbol, better known as the Olympic Rings consists of five intertwined rings and represents the unity of the five inhabited continents (America, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe). The colored version of the rings—blue, yellow, black, green, and red—over a white field forms the Olympic Flag. These colors were chosen because every nation had at least one of them on its national flag. The flag was adopted
in 1914 but flown for the first time only at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. It has since been hoisted during each celebration of the Games.
The Olympic Motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius, a Latin expression meaning "Faster, Higher, Stronger". Coubertin's ideals are further expressed in the Olympic Creed:
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
Months before each Games, the Olympic Flame is lit in Olympia in a ceremony that reflects ancient Greek rituals. A female performer, acting as a priestess, ignites a torch by placing it inside a Parabolic Mirror which focuses the sun's rays; she then lights the torch of the first relay bearer, thus initiating the Olympic torch relay that will carry the flame to the host city's Olympic stadium, where it plays an important role in the opening ceremony.
Though the flame has been an Olympic symbol since 1928, the torch relay was introduced at the 1936 Summer Games, as part of the German government's attempt to promote its National Socialist ideology.
So to conclude my blog for the day until next week when we are back to racing, and the Stokesley Duathlon on Charlottes birthday 25th March (Sunday), I can add to the calender that on 16th June 2012 I will be carrying the Olympic Torch through South Shields, Tyne and Wear. My home town, and close to all my family and friends.
It will make me extremely proud to represent our proud nation in this massive festival of sport.
2012 - What a Year!!! It just keeps getting better. Please keep following and spreading the word and sharing my story to see what happens next.
It will make me extremely proud to represent our proud nation in this massive festival of sport.
2012 - What a Year!!! It just keeps getting better. Please keep following and spreading the word and sharing my story to see what happens next.