A young Edmonton athlete selected to light the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony on Friday says she will not forget the experience “in a million years.”

Sprinter Desiree Henry, 16, of Enfield and Haringey Athletics Club, was one of seven young athletes nominated by seven Olympic legends to light the cauldron at the end of the ceremony.

Miss Henry, who won gold in 200metres last year’s World Junior Championships in France, was put forward by double Olympic decathlon gold medallist Daley Thompson.

Olympians Sir Roger Bannister, Daley Thompson and Sir Steve Redgrave were tipped as favourites to light the cauldron.

 She said: “It was an out of body experience. I can’t even put it into words what it felt like, it didn’t seem real and it still doesn’t.

“It’s an experience I wouldn’t forget in a million years – just to be in the stadium alone was special, but to be part of such a historic moment like that was just incredible."

More than a billion people watched the Olympic opening ceremony worldwide.

She added: “We had done it a couple of times in rehearsals, but absolutely nothing could have prepared me for the real thing. It was a moment we’ll all cherish for a really long time.”

Danny Boyle, who designed and coordinated the ceremony, told the Miss Henry about her special role during the World Junior Championships in Barcelona last month, after she had finished fourth in the 200 metres. 


The budding star said: “When I was first told I was stunned – it was just amazing to me that Daley Thompson even knew who I was, let alone that he was nominating me to light the flame.


“For Olympic champions to give up such an amazing moment and pass it up to seven people not many people have heard of, that sums up exactly what these Olympics are all about.”

The athlete set a new 200metre world record last year in the World Youth Championships in France with a time of 23.25 seconds, more than half a second quicker than the previous time.

Despite her major role, she was sworn to secrecy and was only allowed to tell her mother Valerie.

She said it was an “amazing achievement” that she was able to keep quiet about her performance.

She said: “I would be speaking to friends and family and all I wanted to do was yell at the top of my lungs what I was doing, but I had to keep it in and act normally. It sounds ridiculous now but it was really tough."

She said Olympic organisers "stayed true" to the theme of the Olympic Games by making the ceremony about the next generation.