Enlarge imageBy Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) - Controversial former sprinter Linford Christie will not carry the Beijing Olympic torch when it passes through London, the Greater London Authority (GLA) said on Friday.
The GLA, who have organised the torch relay on April 6, denied British media reports that Christie had been invited by London Mayor Ken Livingstone to be one of 80 torch relay runners.
"Linford Christie has made it clear he will not be participating in the torch relay," a GLA spokesperson said.
"Inaccurate reports have appeared claiming that the Mayor invited Linford Christie to participate in the torch relay.
"The decision to invite Linford Christie to be a torchbearer was not taken by the Mayor. The Mayor only had the right to nominate five torchbearers and Linford Christie was not one of them."
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However, a spokesman for Nuff Respect, a sports marketing agency established by Christie in 1992, said earlier on Friday that the former sprinter had indeed been asked to join the relay.
"Linford has been invited to take part and will do depending on his schedule because he may be away warm weather training," the spokesman said.
Christie, who celebrates his 48th birthday four days before the relay, won the Olympic 100 metres gold medal in 1992 but tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in 1999 and served a two-year ban.
Christie, who has always denied taking performance enhancing substances, is not allowed to work in any official capacity with the national Olympic team under BOA rules.
British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman Colin Moynihan, who sits on the Olympic Board for the 2012 London Games, said he was strongly opposed to Christie carrying the torch.
"I made it crystal clear that no one convicted of a drugs offence and banned for life under our bylaw should run with the Olympic flame," Moynihan told The Times. "I could not feel more strongly on the subject."
The GLA are organising the relay across London from Wembley Stadium -- site of the 1948 Games -- to the 02 Arena that will serve as a venue for the 2012 Olympics.
The only names released so far by the GLA are those of retired middle-distance runner Kelly Holmes, who won two gold medals at the 2004 Games in Athens, broadcaster Trevor McDonald and actress Amara Karan.
With the slogan ’Light the passion, Share the dream’ and the theme of ’Journey of harmony’, the Olympic torch will visit 22 cities around the world before arriving in Beijing’s Olympic stadium for the official opening of the 2008 Games.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Trevor Huggins)
