Flame lit by magnificent seven

The Olympic Flame has been lit at the Olympic Stadium in London by seven young British athletes nominated by seven of Britain's greatest Olympians.

In a break from tradition, no single Olympian was given the honour.

Sir Steve Redgrave, Britain's five-time Olympic gold medal-winner, received the flame from David Beckham after the England footballer carried it on a boat on the Thames on the penultimate leg of its 12,800 mile journey by torch relay.

Sir Steve then carried the torch into the stadium, where the other six great British Olympians joined him in a ceremonial handing over of the flame to the seven youngsters.

Callum Airlie, 17, was nominated by gold medal-winning sailor Shirley Robertson. He has been sailing since the age of four, and is a two-time Optimist UK national champion who aims to be entered into the 2013 ISAF (International Sailing Association & Federation) Open.

Jordan Duckitt, 18, was chairman of the London 2012 Young Ambassador Steering Group for two years, and was nominated by Duncan Goodhew.

Athletics talent Desiree Henry was put forward by Daley Thomson.

The 16-year-old was the youngest member of the Great Britain youth team to gain a world 200m title at the IAAF World Youth Championships in 2011, and competes this year at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona.

Runner Katie Kirk was nominated by Dame Mary Peters, who won gold in the women's Pentathlon at the 1972 Munich games.

Katie, 18, was selected to run at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, in the 400m and 4x400m relay.

She was also part of the gold medal-winning team in the 4x400m relay at the European Junior championships in Tallinn, Estonia.

Sir Steve nominated young rower Cameron MacRitchie, 19.

The teenager finished fifth with his partner James Edwards in the men's pair at the 2012 GB rowing team under 23 trials in April.

He was selected in the men's eight to race at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Lithuania.

Aidan Reynolds, 18, was put forward by Lynn Davies, who captained Team GB at Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984.

Aidan gave up a promising basketball career to focus on the javelin, winning three medals at national level at the English Schools, UK School Games and English Championships.

Adelle Tracey was nominated by Dame Kelly Holmes.

The 19-year-old has collected county, regional and national junior and senior titles in 400m and 800m, and has been in the top five UK rankings for the last six years.

She won 800m silver for Great Britain in the European Youth Olympic Festival in Finland.

The seven then jointly lit the flame in its cauldron to mark the opening of the 30th Olympiad.

The group of seven each lit a single flame on the ground, which triggered the ignition of more than 200 petals.

Unity

Long stems on the cauldron then rose towards each other to signify unity and the flames came together in a ball of fire.

The ceremony was the culmination of a three-hour spectacular in the Olympic Stadium in Stratford that featured music, dance, light shows and fireworks.

The Games were then officially opened by her Majesty The Queen.

Earlier, the athletes parade had been completed by the Great Britain team, with Sir Chris Hoy carrying his nation's flag.

The gold medal-winning cyclist described the experience of leading his nation as a massive honour. He said: "I don't think any of us were expecting it (the reception) to be this good."

Commenting on carrying the flag, he said: "It's a massive honour to be the one who leads out the team, even more so at our home Games."

The British athletes walked through a guard of honour of schoolchildren as they made their way through the Olympic Park to the stadium. As host nation, they were the last group to join the parade.