January 2015 ~ Inulpoker Swimming

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Brown pays tribute to GB success

Video - Brown says GB football team vital for 2012

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has paid tribute to the achievements of the British team at the Beijing Olympics.

Team GB beat all targets by collecting an impressive 19 golds and a total of 47 medals at the 2008 Games - their best haul for a century.

Mr Brown told BBC Olympic Breakfast that the medal haul was an "incredibly impressive achievement".

"It is remarkable. We should be really proud. Back home there is real enthusiasm for the Olympics."

Mr Brown has already stated that the honours system will recognise the achievements of the team.

With the end of the 2008 Games, the baton now passes to London - which will host the next Olympics in 2012.

And Mr Brown says London has a tough act to follow.

"It's inspiring to see the level of organisation in China," he added. "It's a challenge. They have set a very high standard and we've got to do better.

"I think it is the best organised Olympics, everybody says so, but as the focus moves today to 2012 then people will look at London, look at Britain afresh and they'll see that we're a tremendously diverse country, they'll see that we're totally focused on inspiring people through sports."

I'm absolutely flattered that my name is being mentioned about managing the Great Britain team
Portsmouth boss Harry RedknappAnd Mr Brown also stated his desire to see a Great British football team at the 2012 Olympics.

The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland football bodies have opposed any such move in case it affects their status within governing body Fifa.

"The British public would find it strange if there was no British team," Mr Brown told BBC Olympic Breakfast.

The Prime Minister said he had spoken to Fifa president Sepp Blatter about the situation.

Blatter has stated that it would be better for Britain to field a team entirely made up of English players because "this will then not provoke a long and endless discussion of the four British associations".

"I am very concerned about this," he added. "The issue is whether would affect the autonomy of the individual associations.

"I talked to Mr Blatter about how we could find a solution to this and I am confident Fifa will give the assurances that the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Associations want.

"I am also confident that when the people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland know that matches will be taking place outside London, they will approve of this idea.

"We all want to see a Great Britain football team. It's the right thing to do to have a successful Olympics."

He added that he has spoken to Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, a fellow Scot, about the possibility of leading a GB football team.

Ferguson has previously said that he would not "try to commit myself to something that is four years ahead".

However, Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp says he would relish the chance to manage the team.

"I'm absolutely flattered that my name is being mentioned about managing the Great Britain team," he told the Sunday Mirror.

"Would I take it if they offered it to me? Absolutely, I would be a fool not to. I've had some great managerial jobs during my career but there is no doubt this would be the icing on the cake.

"The fact it is being held on my old stamping ground in East London makes it even more appealing."

Great Britain won the Olympic football gold medal in 1908 and 1912 but have not competed in the tournament since 1960.

Cultural Olympiad plans unveiled

Lord Coe believes the Olympiad is an opportunity to 'release creativity'

A William Shakespeare festival and 12 new public works of art will form part of a 'Cultural Olympiad' planned for the run-up to the 2012 London games.

Set up to showcase Britain's arts and culture, the four-year programme will comprise 500 events designed to involve and inspire people at home and abroad.

Details were announced on Thursday by 2012 chief Lord Coe at the National Theatre on London's South Bank.

The scheme was a key factor in London winning the bid to host the Olympics.

The Cultural Olympiad will co-ordinate the opening and closing ceremonies at the London games, as well as local and regional events.

It will begin with an open weekend, to be held later this month - between 26 and 28 September - for which hundreds of events have already been planned.

One of these will include the illumination of Blackpool Tower in pink, blue, orange and green - the colours of London 2012 - at 2012 BST at 26 September.

Lord Coe, meanwhile, will take part in Martin Creed's current conceptual art piece at Tate Britain, in which runners sprint the length of the museum's sculpture galleries.

"The Cultural Olympiad will leave a legacy of cultural engagement in communities across our country," the athlete-turned-politician told reporters on Thursday.

Future projects include Film Nation, a digital film competition for young people, and Unlimited, described as a celebration of disability arts, culture and sport.

There will also be National Singing Day, held as part of the BBC-backed Sounds strand.

A World Cultural Festival will be held in 2012 itself featuring contributions from all participating countries.

"We want to welcome great artists of the world to take part," said Jude Kelly, chair of Culture, Ceremonies and Education for the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).

'Absolutely central'

It was Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic movement, who first conceived the idea of a marriage between sport and the arts.

More than ?40 million has been earmarked for cultural activities across the United Kingdom.

When London's selection as the next host of the Olympics was made in July 2005, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell described the Cultural Olympiad as "absolutely central" to the vision of what could be achieved.

The major projects announced on Thursday are:

• Artists Taking the Lead - 12 "cutting edge" commissions from artists across the UK. (These can include sculptures, symphonies, plays or films.)

• Stories of the World - a national network of exhibitions "telling new stories in new ways".

• Sounds - a four-project approach to "celebrating music as a universal language".

• Somewhereto - a project empowering young people to find somewhere to practice sport and culture "on their terms".

• Discovering Places - a project dedicated to "opening up the historic and built environment to new audiences".

• Film Nation - a programme "designed to get young people behind the camera".

• World Shakespeare Festival - a celebrate of the Bard co-ordinated by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

• Festival of Carnivals - five themed street carnivals to be held during the Olympic period.

2012 bosses deny demolition plan

The Olympic Stadium

An artist's impression of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east LondonLondon 2012 bosses have denied they are seriously considering a plan to flatten the Olympic Stadium after the Games.

Reports have suggested the £525m venue could be demolished and replaced by a Premier League football ground.

But the London Development Agency (LDA), the body responsible for the post-2012 use of the site, has moved quickly to play down these claims.

And a spokesman for London Mayor Boris Johnson said Johnson was "not aware of any plans to demolish the stadium".

He added that the mayor remained committed to finding a viable, long-term use for all the permanent Olympic venues and wanted "athletics to be part of that legacy".

A spokesman for the LDA said "no stone had been left unturned" in exploring all the options for the Olympic venues and the drawing up of a range of possible scenarios was part and parcel of the legacy planning process.

A source close to the process told BBC Sport the leaked demolition plan was simply one of "more than 10" options currently on the table. He also strongly hinted it was the most radical - and least likely - of those choices.

The favourite option remains converting the 80,000-capacity venue into a 25,000-seat stadium with an athletics track and at least one "anchor tenant", a football or rugby team capable of filling the venue on a regular basis.

A guaranteed revenue stream is crucial to the venue's future as no local or national authority wants to be responsible for the upkeep of a rarely used athletics centre - all interested parties are desperate to avoid the mistakes of previous Olympic hosts and their expensive "white elephants".

Building work on the 2012 site's centrepiece is ahead of schedule

The LDA has been actively looking for an anchor tenant for over two years and is currently talking to League One club Leyton Orient, the Rugby Football League and UK Athletics, and is widely believed to have also put out feelers to rugby union sides Saracens and Wasps.

Initial talks with West Ham United about a move to Stratford collapsed early on over the issue of the athletics track and its use for international events, and Tottenham Hotspur, the other Premier League side close enough to be a realistic candidate, appear to favour redeveloping their current home.

Chelsea have also been touted as possible future tenants although there seems to be little substance to those claims as they want to stay in west London.

A spokesman for West Ham told BBC Sport the situation had not changed in regard to any possible move to the Olympic site and the club's preferred options were building a new ground at a former Parcelforce depot next to West Ham tube station or upgrading Upton Park.

That said, both West Ham and Spurs have not ruled out the Olympic option, providing a workable solution can be found to the athletics issue and, most importantly, the numbers make sense. Both are mindful of the fantastic deal Manchester City's owners were given when they were handed Eastlands after the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

But what makes a similar transition from multi-sport event centrepiece to gleaming Premier League palace far less likely in London is the unlikelihood of any government agreeing to the demolition of such an expensive and high-profile venue after just a few weeks' use.

London 2012's organisers would also be vehemently opposed to any dilution of the athletics legacy in Stratford as that was promised to the International Olympic Committee in the bid for the Games.

Public 'fearing Olympics failure'

A crowd celebrating the Olympic handover to London

The excitement over the 2012 Games has been growing in the UKNearly nine out of 10 Britons do not think the government is capable of managing the 2012 Olympics, a survey taken after the Beijing Games suggests.

The biggest concern expressed was over the cost, currently budgeted at ?9.3bn.

The survey by Opinium Research found just 12% of the 2,000 people surveyed believe the Games will come in on budget or within 10%.

A government spokesman said people with "experience and expertise" were in place to "deliver a fantastic Games".

The survey suggests Great Britain's most successful Olympic Games in a century has generated an air of excitement about 2012.

Nearly two-thirds feel proud of Britain following the team's performance in Beijing and almost half now feel more excited about hosting the 2012 Games.

However, 60% said that the athletes' performance has not made them feel more confident about the government.

And just 21% think the Olympics will be good for Britain's international reputation - an increase from 15% before the Games.

Sporting revival

Mark Hodson, head of research at Opinium, said: "The Beijing Olympics has ignited people's enthusiasm for 2012, mostly due to the amazing success of our medal-wining athletes.

"However, people continue to have major concerns.

"Nearly a third of Brits still think that the Games will not provide any long-term benefits to the UK, and taxpayers' money spent on the 2012 Olympics would be better spent on other things such as the NHS, transport and infrastructure."

The research also says that the Olympics has inspired one in seven people to take up or revisit a sport.

This is more than double the number of people who were expected to be inspired prior to this summer's Games.

A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: "We have in place the experience and expertise - both within government and The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and The Olympic Delivery Authority - to deliver a fantastic Games and long term legacy that will benefit millions of people for decades to come."

Plans for 2012 VeloPark unveiled

Page last updated at 11:53 GMT, Monday, 8 September 2008 12:53 UKAnimated flight around the 2012 VeloPark

Triple Beijing gold medal-winning cyclist Chris Hoy has helped unveil plans for the VeloPark for London's 2012 Olympic Games.

The VeloPark will include a 6,000-seat velodrome to host the cycling events as well as a BMX circuit.

After the games, a road cycle circuit and mountain bike course will be added, so the park can be used by everyone.

A planning application will be submitted later this month with construction work due to start in 2009.

The VeloPark designs have been developed following consultation with British Cycling and local cycling groups.

London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, Chairman Seb Coe, left, British triple gold medal winning cyclist Chris Hoy and Mayor of London Boris Johnson visit the site of the new London 2012 VeloPark

Hoy was joined by Lord Coe and London Mayor Boris Johnson

After the games, the park will be linked into cycle routes across London, connecting the whole of the city with the new facilities.

Hoy said: "Becoming Olympic champion simply wouldn't have been possible without the local cycling facilities I used when I was growing up, so I'm delighted to help launch the designs of the London 2012 VeloPark which will provide first-class facilities for cyclists of all ages and abilities".

Olympics minister Tessa Jowell added: "The designs meet the challenging brief to provide not only a first-class games venue, but also a springboard in legacy for future British Olympians and will make a valuable contribution to increasing sport participation from grassroots to elite level."

The launch of the latest plans for the London 2012 VeloPark follows the opening of the Redbridge Cycling Centre last month.

The ?4.5m facility was built by the London Development Agency (LDA) for community and competition use to replace the former Eastway Cycle Circuit which made way for the site of the London 2012 VeloPark.

Hoy was joined by Locog chairman Lord Coe and London Mayor Boris Johnson for the unveiling of the plans.

See the Olympic building site through the eyes of a 2012 cynic

The transformation of London's east end ahead of the 2012 Olympics is well underway. But construction of a sparkling new stadium and Olympic park - as depicted in artist impressions - has only just begun.

Radio 4's Today programme asked author and local resident Iain Sinclair to tour the area. He explains why he is sceptical about the benefits the London games will bring:

Aerial photography and artist impressions courtesy Olympic Delivery Authority.

Slideshow production Paul Kerley.

Britain may aim for third in 2012

By James Munro
BBC sports news correspondent

Cyclist Chris Hoy contributed three golds to Britain's impressive totalBritain could revise its medals target for London 2012 following the team's success at the Beijing Olympics.

UK Sport, which provides the funding for elite sport, originally set a target of finishing fourth.

But that was achieved in Beijing, where Britain won 19 golds and 47 medals, the best haul for a century.

"It would be foolish not to aspire to even greater heights, especially as the host nation," said Lord Moynihan, head of the British Olympic Association.

The BOA chairman added: "Sure, we've got to see whether or not it is feasible to move to third place. We haven't made a decision on that.

"But this is not a National Organising Committee which is going to sit on its laurels, and nor are the athletes. We will want to make sure that we deliver the best for Britain in 2012, so we are going to be looking to go higher."

UK Sport will not decide upon a new target until the autumn, by which time it will have discussed the subject with each sport individually.

And UK Sport director of performance Liz Nicholl added: "If you had asked me this two weeks ago, I would have said 'impossible'.

"The phrase we used was: 'fourth in the medals is the best we can hope to achieve given a nation of our size'.

"But we look at these Games and what has happened to the Russians. If they are in reach then there's no reason to constrain our ambitions.

"In terms of 2012, nobody is going to be happy with the same again, but we need to be bringing that to life, probably through more medals.

"When we get back, we will be discussing 2012 targets with each of the individual sports. Then UK Sport will be setting a collective target as a result of that."

1948

Dominic Sutherland, producer of a new BBC documentary about the 1948 Olympics, tells the story of London's desperate - sometimes farcical - race to stage the first post-war Games since the Nazi Olympiad of 1936.

"When it was confirmed that London would be hosting the '48 Games there was a great sense of excitement that the modern Olympics were returning.

But the organisers faced a number of hurdles.

They only had two years preparation time before an army of international athletes would descend on the city (London has seven years to prepare for the 2012 Games).

And it wasn't just time that was lacking.

Food and accommodation were also in short supply.

The British gymnastics team practice in Hyde Park At times preparations resembled an Ealing comedy - gymnasts train in Hyde Park

Rationing was more severe in the immediate post-war years than it had been during hostilities and the country was massively short of homes as a result of wartime bombing.

Feeding and housing more than 6,000 competitors was certainly going to be a challenge.

Organisers considered putting up the visiting athletes in Prisoner of War camps, but in the end military barracks were modified for the men. and schools and colleges were made available to the sportswomen.

Countries were also encouraged to bring their own food and those nations that could afford to do so made donations to help out the poorer countries.

Two countries not on the guest list for London 1948 were Germany and Japan, the aggressors of World War Two.

The Soviets did receive an invitation, but Stalin was more concerned with realpolitik than Olympic spirit and chose not to send his athletes rather risk them losing to the American team.

At times the Games were in danger of becoming an Ealing comedy; female athletes had to make their own uniforms boxers got fit on custard and jelly the British track stars trained at Butlins gymnastic equipment had to be borrowed from abroad the torch relay ran into numerous difficulties (including communist rebels who killed a policeman guarding the official party) and the British flag for the opening ceremony even went missing.

Fortunately Roger Bannister was on hand to save the day, sprinting through Wembley car park to salvage a spare banner from the boot of his Humber Supersnipe.

Final of the 4x100m relay at Wembley stadium

But in the end the Games were a great success.

Despite the backdrop of post-war austerity, London managed to host an Olympiad that exemplified the spirit of amateur sportsmanship.

And as ever with the Olympics, it's the stories of the competitors that most intrigue;

In 1948 a German POW called Helmut Bantz became an unofficial coach of the British Gymnastic team.

A Hungarian marksmen won gold, despite having lost his shooting hand in an accident with a grenade during the war.

Olympic medals were also handed out to winners of the Art Competition (the last time such a competition was held), for disciplines which included posters, sculpture, architecture and even poetry.

The undoubted star of the Games though was Dutch housewife and mother of two, Fanny Blankers-Koen; the first women to win four gold medals at an Olympics.

In the end America topped the medal table with 38 golds.

Sweden was second with 16 and France third with 10.

Britain only won three golds, finishing twelfth overall: the first time a host nation had not finished in the top ten.

But medals and glory certainly weren't everything.

London had, against all the odds, pulled off hosting a successful games; what can only be described as a very British Olympics. "

A Very British Olympics, BBC4 18 October (repeated 23 Oct), 2100 BST.

I was 12 at the time of the London Olympics in 1948. We were lucky enough to have a television. My abiding memory is of the show jumping in which a Brazilian (I think) horse ploughed its way through virtually all the fences. Its inability to rise more than a few feet off the ground made me cry with laughter!
Brian Morris, UK

In 1948 I was a 15-year-old Boy Scout belonging to a Scout Troop in North Harrow. I was chosen to carry the Country Banner for Belgium in the opening ceremony. We were all given a lunch pack containing food and drink.

It was a very hot day and I distinctly remember wandering around outside the Wembley Stadium before the opening ceremony started and athletes from the assorted nations taking part were pleading with me for my drink, as they had not been given any food or water.

I think I appear in your photo of Lord Burghley opening the 1948 Games.
Max Poultney, England

As an Olympic Journalist and TV director in Malta, I remember well the 1948 Games in London. On that day, Malta had just one (1) athlete, who took part in the 100m, perhaps one of the smallest-ever contingents. The athlete, Maj. Nestor Jacono is still in good health.
Charles Camenzuli, Malta

What a lovely programme. The first time I've ever felt compelled to write in. It brought a smile to my face, a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat. Lovely.
Ali Simmons, UK Salisbury

More Britons 'to attend Olympics'

The poll was carried out to assess support for London's Olympic GamesPublic enthusiasm for attending the 2012 London Olympic Games has risen almost 30% following the Beijing Games, a survey for the BBC suggests.

A phone poll of 1,000 adults during the closing weekend of the Beijing Games suggested that 32% would attend the London event, up from 25% in February.

The poll was carried out by GFKNOP and compared with a similar survey conducted in February.

Beijing handed over to London as the host city on Sunday.

Despite Team GB having its best Olympic performance in 100 years, coming fourth in the medal table and bringing back 47 medals, only 19% of respondents thought the Olympics would inspire them to participate in sport and exercise, with 79% saying it would not.

This was a decrease from February's 20% of respondents who expected to be inspired to get active.

In the February and August polls the BBC asked whether respondents thought the London Games would benefit the region where they lived - at both times 73% said no and 22% said yes.

Two further questions were asked in the August poll.

Twenty percent of respondents were feeling "very positive" about the London Games now that the Beijing Games were finished and 37% were "quite positive".

Seventeen percent were "very negative" or "quite negative".

When asked should the government spend more or less money on the Games in 2012, 28% said more, and 33% said less, while 34% said no difference.

China spent ?20bn on the games, but London's mayor Boris Johnson has said he is "absolutely determined" the 2012 Olympics will cost less than the current ?9.3bn budget. Bar chart showing regional responses to question of whether people's own areas will benefit from the 2012 Olympics in the UK

1908

BBC Sport's team take a quirky look at the events of 1908

As preparations for the London 2012 Olympics gather pace, 27 April marks the centenary of the start of the first Games to be held in the British capital.

BBC Sport looks back at the 1908 Olympiad, its highlights and heroes, as well as its quirks and controversies.

The 1908 Games were due to be held in Rome, but the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906 left Italy needing to divert resources into disaster relief and rebuilding.

With time running out, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) asked Britain to step in as host. That gave London less than two years to prepare.

But with Lord Desborough, the British Olympic Association's dynamic chairman, to the fore, and the support of King Edward VII, the challenge was accepted.

The Olympic Stadium in west London The Olympic Stadium was ready in good time for the GamesA Franco-Britannic Exhibition was to be held in west London in 1908, and the canny Desborough did the kind of deal which would leave London 2012 boss Lord Coe still in his blocks.

In return for a share of gate receipts, the exhibition organisers agreed to fund and build a 66,000-capacity stadium next to their site, and even donated ?2,000 towards its running costs.

So hats off, gentlemen, to Lord Desborough, the first hero of the 1908 London Games.

DID YOU KNOW? The White City area of west London takes its name from the marble cladding used on the exhibition pavilions.

Politics reared its head at the 1908 Games when the US team declined to dip the Stars and Stripes when passing the King at the opening ceremony.

As competition began, the Americans were soon lodging allegations of biased judging and bemoaning the fact that events were staged using British rules.

Wyndham Halswelle wins the 400m Halswelle's win is still the only walkover gold in Olympic historyThe latter led to the IOC ensuring in subsequent Olympics that standard international rules were applied to avoid similar disputes.

One of the biggest came when American John Carpenter won a four-man 400m final but was disqualified for impeding Britain's Wyndham Halswelle.

A re-run was ordered but the three Americans refused to take part, so Halswelle ran unopposed to take gold.

As a result, the 400m at the 1912 Games in Stockholm was run in lanes. The International Amateur Athletics Federation was founded in the same year, in part to harmonise the variety of rules that had developed around the world.

DID YOU KNOW? Capt Wyndham Halswelle was killed by a sniper at the Battle of Nueve Chapelle during the First World War. THE 1908 GAMES - LONG, QUIRKY AND WET

This year's Summer Games in Beijing will be done and dusted in a little over two weeks, but the 1908 Olympics were the longest ever, running from the end of April until late October.

That allowed plenty of time for some idiosyncratic inclusions in the programme of events, including - for the first and only time - tug of war.

The competition was dominated by the long arm of the law, with British police teams taking gold, silver and bronze.

Tug of war at the 1908 Olympics. The Liverpool St Police tug-of-war team take the strain in 1908Powerboating was another sport which made its sole Olympic appearance in 1908, with three races held in choppy conditions in Solent. Britain took two golds, and France the other.

Conditions were decidedly chilly at the Prince's Skating Club in Knightsbridge, where Olympic ice skating took place in April.

In the days before separate Winter Olympics were staged, Britain won six medals, although two of the four events only had three entrants.

Britain also enjoyed swimming success, but won no plaudits as the water in the 100m open-air pool in the middle of the Olympic Stadium turned distinctly swampy as the Games progressed.

Organisers weren't helped by heavy rain during the summer which turned the infield of the stadium into a mudbath.

By the end of the swimming events, the water was so murky that competitors were colliding with each other.

DID YOU KNOW? Diving and field hockey made their Olympic debuts in 1908. DORANDO PIETRI - HIS LEGEND LIVES ON

You may not know who won the marathon at the 1908 Games, but the name of the first man to cross the line only to be disqualified is part of Olympic lore.

Italy's Dorando Pietri (see main photo, top) was in a state of near-collapse as he entered the Olympic Stadium and tottered towards the tape.

He actually had to be helped to his feet more than once, and was assisted at the finish by two race officials.

Dorando Pietri breaks the tape - but heartbreak was to follow. Italy's Dorando Pietri thought he had won the 1908 Olympic marathon but was disqualified for receiving help from race officialsBecause of that he was stripped of victory, and the gold medal went instead to America's JJ Hayes - so it didn't all go against the USA in London.

Perhaps Pietri was nobbled by the extension of the marathon course by 385 yards so the start could be seen by the Royal Family at Windsor Castle.

Eyewitness accounts of the race have also suggested he may have had the odd swig of brandy proffered by spectators along the route.

Whatever the truth of the matter, his plight touched the heart of the public, and he was presented with a special trophy by Queen Alexandra.

To this day, all marathons are still run over 26 miles and 385 yards, thanks to royal intervention in 1908.

DID YOU KNOW? Pietri's exploits are commemorated in White City by a road named Dorando Close.

"Legacy" is a buzzword used by organisers of the 2012 London Olympics - the lasting impact they hope their Games will have.

The 'roll of honour' plaque at the BBC's Media Village in White CityBut what of the London's first Olympics - what endured after they finally came to an end on 31 October?

The judging controversies at the 1908 Games led to the standardisation of track and field rules at future Olympics and other major events.

They also led to the IOC appointing officials from an international pool rather than leaving it up to the host nation.

An opening ceremony in which national teams paraded behind their flag also became standard after the London Games.

The event also set the bar for future British teams, with the hosts topping the medal table for the only time, winning 56 golds, 51 silvers and 39 bronzes.

Finally, the 1908 Games bequeathed a stadium to London that was used for a variety of sports until its demolition to make way for new BBC premises in 1985.

The finishing line of the old track is marked outside the BBC's White City building, and in 2005 a special plaque was unveiled by IOC president Jacques Rogge to commemorate the 1908 Olympics.

Will the 2012 stadium gradually taking shape in East London still be in use 77 years after the Games are over?

London takes over as Olympic host

Video - London 2012's Olympic preview

London has received the Olympic flag to signal the start of its reign as Olympic host city and spark wild celebrations in the capital.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson was given the flag by IOC President Jacques Rogge at the closing ceremony in Beijing.

An eight-minute handover presentation, featuring a red double-decker bus, footballer David Beckham and musicians Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis followed.

An estimated 40,000 people celebrated the handover at a party in London.

Johnson waved the flag four times, as scripted, before handing it to an usher.

He will bring the flag back to London on Tuesday and fly it outside City Hall alongside the Paralympic flag when those Games have concluded in September.

Johnson displayed the flag at a major celebration in Beijing on Sunday for athletes, organisers, senior politicians including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, spectators and the media.

Sport is coming home. See you in London

"I'm profoundly humbled by the immense privilege I've been given today," said Johnson.

"I'm also intensely proud. Proud of the athletes who pulled in the best medal tally for decades. Proud of the people behind them who've delivered this stunning success. And proud beyond all that London is now in charge of the Olympic legacy.

"The next Games return to a country which I frequently boast has either invented or codified just about every major world sport.

"We will draw on that heritage and we will draw on our wit, flair, imagination and ingenuity to build on what we've all witnessed in Beijing and deliver a fantabulous Olympics in what I consider to be not only my home, but the home of sport.

"Sport is coming home. See you in London!"

At the celebration at London House in Beijing, Johnson told the BBC: "It was a little daunting picking up the flag, but the baton has been passed to a London administration that will deliver.

"This is not going to be a cost-cutting Olympics, but it is essential we watch every penny to deliver a Games that is value for money."

Boris Johnson 'lost in admiration'

Prime Minister Brown added: "It has been an amazing atmosphere here and in London too.

"You can see how it's going to build to 2012 - nights like this make you proud to be British."

In London thousands of people attended a party in The Mall outside the Queen's residence, Buckingham Palace.

They were entertained by musical acts including McFly, Scouting for Girls, Katherine Jenkins, The Feeling and Will Young.

Several British Olympians, including cycling's triple gold medallist Bradley Wiggins, silver medal winning triple jumper Phillips Idowu and past stars Sharron Davies, Roger Black and Kate Howey were also present.

Wiggins, who won two golds in Beijing to add to his one from Athens, said: "When I left, it was all 'recession, recession, recession' and we've come back to a country overwhelmed by Olympic success.

"There's an overwhelming sense of people being excited by the next Olympics being in London."

Idowu added: "London's going to be crazy. If we have support like this now, it's going to be amazing."

America's swimming sensation Michael Phelps, who won an record eight gold medals in Beijing, also dropped in.

He said: "This is my first trip to London and I am looking forward to coming back in four years to compete in the London Olympics.

"It's been an amazing few weeks, (winning eight gold medals was) a dream come true."

A spectacular flypast by the Royal Air Force's aerobatics team, the Red Arrows, with their trademark red, white and blue smoke wowed the crowd.

And former M People singer Heather Small rounded off the party with a rendition of her hit single Proud.

Numerous cities, including 2012 football venue Glasgow and sailing venue Weymouth were hooked up to London via giant screens.

The International Olympic Committee awarded the Games of the 30th Olympiad to London on 6 July, 2005.

London mayor Boris Johnson with the Olympic flag

Video - Flag passed to London mayor

The city won a two-way fight with Paris by 54 votes to 50 at the IOC meeting in Singapore, after bids from Moscow, New York and Madrid were eliminated.

Mayor Johnson has told the BBC he is "absolutely determined" the 2012 Olympics will cost less than the current £9.3bn budget.

London will become the first city to stage the Olympics for a third time in 2012.

On both previous occasions, the capital has staged the Games at short notice - Rome pulled out of hosting the 1908 Olympics following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906.

And in 1948, London staged what became known as the Austerity Games following World War II.

Guide to London's Olympics venues

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We won't try to top Beijing - Coe

Page last updated at 17:16 GMT, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 18:16 UK

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Mihir Bose hears the thoughts of Lord Coe in Beijing

London 2012 chief Lord Coe has admitted that the current Olympics in Beijing will be the last Games of its scale.

Coe insists that London's priority will be delivering a lasting legacy and community provision for the future.

"We've never viewed these Games simply as 16 days of spectacular Olympic or Paralympic sport," he told BBC Sport.

"The International Olympic Committee themselves recognise that this is the last edition of a Games which is going to look and feel like this."

Speaking to BBC sports editor Mihir Bose, he explained: "We work very closely with the IOC on a daily and hourly basis - they have set the agenda on sustainable venues, with sport as a bridgehead into other things.

"We recognise that - although instinctively I think we'd have been drawn to it as well.

"It's a mistake to think that Games model themselves on previous Games. Every Games I've been to has been very different.

"But we can be creative - we know that more people will probably come to London for the Games than to other cities.

"I think we can deliver a fantastic Olympic and Paralympic Games, but we can do great things in the city to drive other cultural values."

Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton recently said London "can match" Beijing's spectacular opening ceremony.

But while the 2012 stadium may not be on the same scale of the Bird's Nest, Coe is confident that it can play a central role in a lasting legacy for London.

"The stadium will be a very different concept [to Beijing] - we're talking about leaving a 25,000-seater all-purpose stadium, for which we've been discussing a number of anchor tenancies, as well as possibly an educational legacy, or even an entertainment legacy," he said.

Sydney's Olympic Stadium Sydney's 2000 Olympic Stadium hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2003"The days of just leaving 90,000-seater stadia - particularly in London, where you'd have two [with the new Wembley Stadium] - are over.

"You have to provide something for local communities to do more than simply press their noses up against."

The last few Olympic stadia are all still in use - with the Athens 2004 stadium hosting top-level football including the Champions League final in 2007, Sydney's Olympic Stadium from 2000 staging the Rugby World Cup in 2003 amongst other events, while Atlanta's stadium from 1996 was reconfigured to host Major League baseball.

The 2012 stadium's post-Games future has yet to be decided, although nearby Leyton Orient FC have been in negotiations about a move.

The strongest legacy we're witnessing at the moment is the performance of Team GB
But as well as the physical legacy, Coe has pointed out that Britain's achievements in Beijing have also given the country a "fantastic platform" for success in four years' time.

"We've been looking at the legacy from the very moment our teams started looking at the master plans," he said.

"But the strongest legacy we're witnessing at the moment is the performance of Team GB.

"I've always felt the primary purpose of a medal is that it signifies a big British moment - and big British moments in sport have to have a conversion rate.

"For the Chris Hoys of this world, and our rowers and swimmers, the real challenge for our governing bodies and for sport more broadly is, how many people can you get into the sport off the back of that great moment?

"I'm a football fan, and we have to accept that it's our national sport - but I do think we can really elevate the status of some of our Olympic sports.

"The BBC have had some of their highest viewing figures, and a large chunk of the population are now very familiar with the faces of swimmers, cyclists and rowers in a way they weren't 10 years ago.

"We want fewer couch potatoes and more participants, but I also want full stadia."

Uefa chief warns against GB team

Taylor was previously Scottish Football Association chief executiveUefa general secretary David Taylor says that a British Olympic football side could be fatal for the Scottish national team's continued existence.

Great Britain's Scottish Prime Minister Gordon Brown is among those keen for a united team to compete in 2012.

But Taylor said: "It is the quickest way for Scotland to disappear off the international stage."

The Scottish FA, along with their Northern Irish and Welsh counterparts, have rejected a united team for London.

Britain has not had a united team competing at the Olympics since 1960.

"The official position of Uefa, indeed of Fifa, whose responsibility it is, is that this has to be purely a football matter and nothing to do with world of politics," said Taylor. It's difficult to see what guarantees can be given
Uefa general secretary David Taylor

"It is about the identity of the countries and it is a matter for the football associations.

"But, when I was in Scotland and chief executive of the Scottish FA, we had a clear and firm position and I understand that is still the position - that Scotland should not take part in an Olympic GB team."

Taylor did not envisage a change of position by any of the three Celtic nations, even though there are other sports where they compete as a GB team at the Olympics and separately in other competitions.

"When I was there, which was not a long time ago, those other countries had the same sort of feelings as we do," he said while stressing that he was speaking as a Scot rather than Uefa's general secretary.

"We have more than 100 years of history of competing as a separate national in football terms.

"It is not like other sports as Scotland competes as a separate entity in all international football competitions."

Taylor was not swayed by assurances from Fifa that competing at the Olympics would not compromise their position.

"Fifa is comprised of 208 countries and we have had situations in the past when the privileges of the British associations, one of which is to compete separately in international football tournaments, has come under attack.

"What I would say is that we should be very careful about that as it's difficult to see what guarantees can be given."

How Muhammad Ali, boxing's crown prince, reclaimed throne in 'The Rumble in the Jungle'

This remarkable man’s pride would not allow him to leave the stage he loves so dearly until he has enjoyed again the champion’s privilege of entering the ring last in a title fight and leaving it with the crown still firmly on his head.

For the moment he is confining himself to the promise: “I will be around to haunt the heavyweights for six months, then will decide.” Let us hope his answer will be: “Yes, I am staying.”

Ali is not just a superb athlete. He is a symbol of hope to millions of less privileged and less gifted members of his race.

Surely no one else from any sport, with the possible exception of Pele, could bring a city to the fever of excitement he inspired in Kinshasa – and at day break at that.

I refer not only to well-heeled ringsiders and their poorer relations out on the bleachers. News of Ali’s great victory spread like wildfire to the modest home of citizens who can only hope the future will be brighter than the past has been.

As those who had been privileged to watch the champion demonstrate his magic drove home through the grey dawn, barefoot boys and girls, nursing mothers and off-to-work fathers lines the new champion’s expected triumphal route to the city in their thousands, chanting, not mindlessly, but with joyful relief, “Ali, Ali, Ali.”

In these days when so much of sport is a business planned to obtain the maximum money from the public that for the minimum return, that was a scene well worth travelling to Africa to see.

So was Ali’s victory. I have been present at more than my fair share of great sporting occasions and am satisfied that this one will remain at the top of the list for a long, long time.

Of his dozen high-standard championship performances over the past 10 years, this was easily the most accomplished. We saw not the arrogant dancing master indulging himself, but the dedicated artist producing a boxing masterpiece.

Ali stripped the massive Foreman of his frightening power by refusing to follow the expected path to the inevitable slaughter.

Instead of running away until his legs were drained of stamina, he backed slowly on to the ropes or into corners, smothering, spoiling, or simply absorbing the champion’s heaviest punches and countering with jolting accuracy and bewildering speed.

Poor Foreman, whose mind worked as ploddingly as his feet and hands moved, just could not understand what was happening. Though, initially, he thumped away to the body the clubbing blows that had destroyed Joe Frazier, Joe Roman and Ken Norton inside 15 minutes, this opponent would not crumble at his feet.

When he tried to reach Ali’s jaw he usually made contact only with gloves, forearms or, to his even greater embarrassment, thin air.

True, there were moments in the second and fifth rounds when many ringsiders thought Foreman’s strength and power would crush an ageing challenger who did not have the speed to escape.

By the sixth, we knew Ali was neither trying, nor wishing to escape. Minute by minute it became clear that the battle was being conducted the way he dictated.

As the points gap between them widened and Foreman’s face began to swell, his will to pursue a rugged course of action showed signs of faltering.

So, through the seventh and in the eighth it continues, with Ali tying up his cumbersome opponent at close quarters, forcing the champion’s head down with both gloves, hurting him with flashing jabs and hooks and all the time taunting him with the sharpest tongue in boxing history.

Then Ali let loose a decisive barrage of short punches, finishing with a right that sent Foreman sprawling to the blue canvas like an exhausted, utterly bewildered bear.

The fallen champion lay on his back, his right knee bent, trying desperately to gather his senses. At six, he stared pleadingly at his corner, at eight Dick Saddler signalled him urgently to rise – and at “out” he was still struggling upwards.

One or two champions of the past might have beaten the count and gone on to meet painful defeat, Foreman could only explain that he had never been knocked down before and did not know what he was doing.

So, soon, Ali was fighting off hysterical fans inside the ropes and rolling helplessly in the dust of the canvas until his handlers and riot police brought much-needed aid.

Then, with peace restored, the new champion of the world left the ring for the bedlam of the dressing room, where the honour was duly paid him by those who doubted his ability to become the second heavyweight to regain the title.

Floyd Patterson shares that distinction, but little else, with the man who I am more than happy to call the greatest heavyweight of my time.

This report from Donald Saunders originally appeared in The Daily Telegraph on Oct 31, 1974

How Muhammad Ali won the 'Rumble in the Jungle' with no sex, video analysis and rope-a-dope

Kilroy remembers Zaire vividly and still almost shivers at the thought of entering Foreman’s dressing room in the minutes before the fight to see the champion’s hands get taped. Foreman told Kilroy that Ali’s children would soon be in an orphanage. “I smell death in the air,” added Archie Moore, Foreman’s trainer. Moore had personally delivered a handwritten letter to Ali a few days before the fight. Having himself fought and trained Ali when he was still called Cassius Clay, Moore warned that he was writing because he did not want “blood on his hands” and, in mimicking his old student’s poems, told Ali: “You’ve gotten too old to win the big gold.” It was a feeling shared globally after Foreman had brutally demolished two fighters in Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, who were the only men to have beaten Ali.

Hugh McIlvanney, then the doyen of British sportswriters, summed up the mood in a single sentence: “As we go to the stadium at that unreal hour we shall be hoping for a miracle but dreading a calamity.”

So what was really the feeling inside Ali’s dressing room in those moments before the fight? Kilroy says that Ali demanded to know what Foreman had said and, when the orphanage story was relayed, he simply laughed and replied: “I can’t wait to get him.”

Kilroy was rather more worried. “My biggest fear was, suppose Ali got hurt. How good are the hospitals in Zaire? What would we have to do? Go on an aeroplane and get to Paris. I discussed this with Ali and he said: 'Don’t worry about me, worry about George.’?”

Kilroy says that Ali’s self-belief was underpinned, above all, by his Islamic faith. Two lesser-known factors were also important. Ali’s preparations for the fight had been inadvertently aided by a delay that kept him in the remote village of N’Sele, 40 miles outside of Kinshasa on the Zaire River, for 55 days before the fight.

“If that fight had been in America, he might not have been in such great shape,” Kilroy says. “Being in Zaire, where people couldn’t flog him, haul him here, haul him there, helped. All he had to do over there was rest, dress and request. We had our cooks, our own little village. The press was all around us. They would come and eat with us. It was like one big happy family.”

Ladies man: Muhammad Ali had a strict 'no-sex' policy ahead of the 'Rumble in the Jungle'

Ali’s daily routine in Zaire involved a 4am run, breakfast, a late-morning movie, a nap, his daily afternoon training session in a makeshift gym, dinner and then a walk by the river before lights out at 10pm.

Ali was a renowned womaniser but, while training for this fight, there would be no sex. He desperately missed America, constantly telling his camp that he longed for “ice cream and pretty girls”.

The night before the fight, Ali watched the horror movie Baron Blood. He slept soundly and woke at 2am. He was driven by bus with his entourage to the Stade Du 20 Mai, where 60,000 people had gathered.

“Everybody waved to him, he was at peace,” Kilroy says. This was evident when Foreman kept Ali waiting. Amid chants of 'Ali bomaye’ (Ali kill him), more than 20 minutes elapsed between the challenger climbing into the ring and the fight starting. “He would not have cared if Foreman took an hour,” Kilroy says. “Ali was busy talking to the crowd, getting them psyched up.”

Ali’s tactics have since gone down in boxing folklore. He did largely lie on the ropes and allow Foreman to punch himself out, but equally important was the aggression he showed early in the fight.

Shortly before travelling to the stadium, Ali asked to speak on the telephone to Cus D’Amato, the legendary trainer who would later inspire Mike Tyson to become the youngest heavyweight champion. “Cus was Ali’s boxing mentor – he thought Cus was a boxing wizard,” Kilroy says. D’Amato told Ali that Foreman was a bully and that it was imperative he threw his first punch with “bad intentions” to make Foreman’s strength his weakness. “Fear is like fire, it can burn your house down, or it can cook your food,” D’Amato told Ali. “You always have fear but you have to control your fear.”

Ali also took confidence from watching a video of Foreman knocking Frazier down six times to win the title. Kilroy says: “When Foreman knocked Joe down, Ali said, 'Run it back, run it back’. George had his hands on the ropes in the neutral corner. Ali said: 'No stamina. I got him. Wait till he hears round six, round seven, round eight.’?”

The rest, of course, is history. Ali did knock Foreman out in the eighth round. A monsoon arrived an hour after the fight that was sufficient to disable satellite communications between Zaire and the rest of the world. Ali and his wife Belinda returned to N’Sele in the back of a Citroën with a police car ahead and his entourage in the bus behind. “It was like the return of a victorious army,” Pacheco says. “All through the jungle, people were lining up along the road with children in their arms, waiting for Ali in the pouring rain.”

At that moment in 1974, there was no more famous person in the world. In the same year, Kilroy still recalls walking through downtown New York with Ali. “New York stopped,” he says. “Cars honked. People rushed to embrace him. He was no mere fighter then, he was the king of the world. When we were in Africa, Ali was bigger than President Mobutu. I say this with all sincerity, if Ali had told those people, 'I want to be your new president’, he would have ended up being president. He always had time for the poor and powerless. That’s what I remember best. I remember a lady came by our camp and said her son was sick. Ali said: 'We’ll go visit him.’ She took us to a leper colony. The staff would put the food down and walk away. Ali was soon lying down with the lepers, hugging them and talking to them. I took about 10 showers when we got back. Ali just said to me: 'Don’t worry about it, God’s looking out for us, we are not going to get leprosy.’ He always had time for people. He was truly the people’s champion.”

That quality also shines through in the I Am Ali film that will be released in the UK next month and which has been enriched by the inclusion of private family cassette recordings that Ali made during the late 1970s. Hana, Ali’s daughter, was three at the time and says that discovering these 90 hours of tapes made her “smile, laugh and cry”. She says: “It sends chills through me. He gave me back my childhood memories.”

In one recording, Ali explains why he is making the tapes. “History is so beautiful, but at the time we’re living it we don’t realise it.” Ali also tells Hana that, one day, she will thank him for them.

“His condition looks a lot worse on television,” Hana says. “It gets worse through the day. I call him every single morning. He has a little voice but you can hear him clearly. He wants to know what is going on, he still jokes about making comebacks.”

The film has been beautifully produced by the English director Clare Lewins and it is striking when looking back on Ali’s life just how much has been so eloquently told through the eyes of British journalists. The late David Frost was also the first broadcaster to reach Ali’s dressing room, minutes after Foreman had been knocked out. Robeless, still sweating and having just admired his virtually unmarked face in the mirror, it is Ali and not Frost who asks the first question. “Am I the greatest of all times?” Ali says.

“Muhammad, you told me in Deer Lake that you were the greatest of all times and I think everybody out there watching now will say you proved it,” Frost replies. Ali then asks if he is live on closed-circuit television. “Right now,” Frost says. Ali glares straight down the camera and delivers what remains his most famous monologue. “Everybody stop talking now. I told you, all of my critics, when I beat Sonny Liston that I was the greatest of all times. I told you today, I am still the greatest of all times. Never again defeat me, never again say that I am going to be defeated, never again make me the underdog until I’m about 50 years old, then you might get me.”

Directly behind Ali, with his hands on the new champion’s shoulders, is Kilroy. He had a front-row seat for the greatest sports story of them all. “Nothing will ever take my memories away of being with Ali,” says Kilroy, his voice momentarily cracking. “Millionaires and billionaires would pay their fortune to have done what I did. When I was with Ali, I sat with kings, presidents, emperors and queens. You can’t imagine the fun we had. Nothing could compare. I lived it. I was blessed. If I was to die and go to heaven, it would be a step down.”

Muhammad Ali is so ill from Parkinsons that he cannot speak, his brother says

Parkinson’s is thought to afflict a high proportion of boxers because of the repeated blows they receive to the head during their careers.

The 72-year-old civil rights campaigner continued to appear in public until recently, although he was clearly showing signs of the disease.

He was a surprise flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics where fans, although delighted to see him, were shocked at his frail appearance.

Seven months earlier, he had enjoyed taking part in the celebrations for his 70th

birthday. Rahman Ali said that the boxer, who lives in Arizona with his wife, Lonnie, had become increasingly frail in the past year and was now largely housebound.

Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, in January 1942, Ali changed his name after converting to Islam in 1964. He later declared that Clay was his “slave name”.

Known for “talking trash” to his opponents as well as quoting his pre-match poems – including the promise to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” – Ali is widely considered to be the greatest boxer who ever lived.

The new film uses the charismatic champion’s “audio journals” to provide an intimate portrait of his life, with a focus on his family.

Fellow boxers including Mike Tyson and George Foreman, who fought him in one of the most famous bouts in history, give interviews as do his children and other family members.

Ali’s daughter Maryum, 46, who also attended the screening, said: “He has not seen the film yet, but I am very excited for him to see it.

“He is going to love it. I know he is. He is going to cry, he is going to laugh. He will be very proud.”

Clare Lewins, the film’s director, said that another daughter, Hana, 38, was planning to show the film to him later this month.

A third daughter, Laila, is an undefeated super middleweight boxing champion.

Members of the Ali family have spoken in the past about their fears that his suffering has grown too great to bear.

In January, his son, Ali Jr, said he considered there was “no chance” of his father living another year.

He said: “I just want, hope and pray to God that this awful disease takes my dad sooner rather than later. Take him away from all the suffering he’s in.”

However, other family members, including his wife and other daughters, have rejected suggestions that he is close to death.

George Foreman: losing to Muhammad Ali made me start looking for answers

Two-time heavyweight champion, George Foreman has said that losing to Muhammad Ali in the famous The Rumble in the Jungle bout in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, made him look for answers outside the world of boxing.

Foreman at the time of the fight was a brooding and intimidating presence, who was by his own account "looking for fame and fortune and nothing else".

Ali went on to knock Foreman down in the eight round, having used a strategy later called 'Rope-A-Dope,' where he let Foreman tire himself out trying to punch him as he leaned back on the ropes covering up and blocking.

Some in the boxing community have said Foreman was counted out too quickly that night, which he himself agrees with but holds no rancour over.

"In hindsight I am so glad. He turned out to be one of the greatest boxers of all time. I would have got up and I could have really got hurt. If there was a quick count, I only benefited, " he said.

Losing the fight set Foreman on his own personal quest for answers outside the world of boxing, and led him to become a minister.

"That night something strange and mysterious happened to me. I lost, of course, and I just couldn't understand. The punch that I had learnt to count on. I ran those punches and nothing happened. I thought it was kind of mysterious that I myself would be counted out.

"I left there trying to find answers, there had to be more to life than just 'one, two, three, you're out'. And I started looking for answers and that fight started me on my journey of looking for big answers. And because of that fight I found great answers too."

Why Rumble in the Jungle is one of the greatest fights of all time

On October 30 1974, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, two of the most powerful boxers in the history of the sport, squared up for the "Rumble in the Jungle" bout in the city of Kinshasa, in the country now called the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At the time, Foreman was considered one of the hardest punchers in the sport, having already knocked out Joe Frazier and Ken Norton – both of whom had given Ali four tough battles and won two of them.

Ali was at the time 32 years old, and had been banned from the sport for three years during his prime and stripped of his boxing title due to his refusal to be drafted to Vietnam.

His years out of the game had meant he had lost the speed and reflexes he had shown in his twenties, and few involved in the sport gave the former champion a chance of winning contest.

Ali during the fight devised a method which would later become known as the 'Rope-A-Dope', where he retreated to the ropes and let Foreman strike him at will while covering up, deflecting and counterpunching.

Midway through the fight, a frustrated Foreman had worn himself out in the Kinshasa heat, throwing punches that didn't land squarely or were blocked by Ali.

Ali countered more frequently and in the eighth round, used a combination of right crosses to floor an exhausted Foreman to regain the title by knockout.

"Few thought he could do this but Muhammad Ali was special," says the Telegraph Boxing Correspondent Gareth A Davies.

"This was one of those moments that demonstrated why Muhammad Ali was he was game changer, and of course he went on to become a great legend."

'Rumble in the Jungle' defeat to Muhammad Ali was my finest hour as a boxer, says George Foreman

“I wasn’t looking to make friends with anyone,” he recalls to Telegraph Sport. “I was young and all I wanted was fame and fortune. I didn’t think that boxing could offer me anything else.

“Liston was my role model. I spent many years working with Sonny, training and preparing him for fights. What I started to admire about him was his personality. Or, I should say, his absence of a personality. So I got rid of mine.”

Foreman’s focus was relentless. King may have been eager to drum up the symbolic nature of a heavyweight title contest between two of the world’s most famous black athletes in Zaire – “an emancipation for black people,” as he called it – but for Foreman it was purely business.

“When I went to Africa, all I wanted was to get more money. Don King agreed to pay both Ali and me so much money I didn’t care where he got it from. Going to Africa to fight meant they weren’t even going to snatch income tax from us. We couldn’t say ‘no’. That’s why I was eager to leave and go to Africa. But the truth is that I wasn’t happy to leave home at all.

“I wanted to join Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, John L Sullivan and Rocky Marciano. These were all heroes if you wanted to be heavyweight champion of the world. The colour thing had nothing to do with what I was interested in at the time. I didn’t pay much attention to it at all.”

Foreman’s refusal to engage in racial grandstanding allowed Ali to, as his opponent puts it now, “wear the black hat” and assiduously court public opinion. The relentless stream of insults, braggadocio and publicity stunts emanating from the Ali camp made him the local favourite, and turned Foreman – who remained resolutely locked in his training base – appear cold and unlovable. “I just thought: 'I’m bigger, better and you’re no threat to me',” Foreman says. “There was no reason to dislike him. He never got under my skin. I was too big to let him get under my skin. He could only get under someone’s skin if they thought he was going to be a threat.”

Ali’s success in the PR war even extended to arriving in Zaire 24 hours earlier than Foreman (pictured today below) in September, to ensure a more frenzied reaction. “When we arrived, there were 6,000 people on the tarmac at sunrise waiting for us,” Bill Caplan, Foreman’s publicist, recalls. “We were supposed to be there for 10 days, but George got cut five days before the fight.”

Pic: Getty Images

The six-week delay which followed simply fuelled Foreman’s unease. “George wanted to leave the country – he didn’t like it there,” Caplan tells Telegraph Sport. “But Mobutu [Sese Seko, the president of Zaire] wouldn’t allow him to leave. He feared he would never come back, and he probably wouldn’t have.

“Muhammad Ali was the most famous person on Earth at that time. He could literally go into any country in the world, walk out onto the street and draw an immediate crowd.

“He was bigger than the President of the United States, the Prime Minister of England and the Pope. None of them could do that without their entourage. He did it in Zaire and had people following him by the hundreds.

“Everywhere they followed him they were chanting ‘Ali bumaye! Ali bumaye!’ That would make anybody feel uncomfortable and George was no different.”

The fight, when it finally happened, merely proved an extension of Ali’s dominance. Foreman unleashed a ferocious barrage on Ali in the opening two rounds, pinning him against the ropes: to the untrained eye, it looked just a matter of time before Ali succumbed. Foreman’s camp, however, already had misgivings. Caplan said: “At the end of the second round, I’ve got my ample belly up against the ring and I can see George sucking in air, breathing hard. I said to the photographer next to me: ‘Oh my God, we’re going to blow this fight.’?”

Caplan’s fears were well founded. An exhausted Foreman could not sustain his assault and, late in the eighth round, Ali struck with a fearsome counter-attack, landing a straight right to send Foreman spiralling to the canvas.

“I could hear him screaming, ‘I told you! I told you!’,” Foreman adds to Telegraph Sport. “Whenever I was knocked down in my career, I was always told by my corner: ‘Don’t jump up – always look to your corner.’ And that’s what I did. You can see me getting my head up, looking to the corner at Dick Saddler. He waved me to stay down for a second and wait. Then he told me to jump up. But, when I jumped up, they called the fight off. It hadn’t reached 10, that’s for sure.”

Initially, the sting of defeat was almost too much for Foreman to bear. Caplan recalls the deposed champion being “very depressed” in the aftermath, but time has healed the wounds. Now, Foreman savours being inextricably linked with Ali and one of the greatest fights ever staged.

“This man [Ali] turned out to be one of the greatest boxers of all time and I would have gotten up and really could’ve been hurt,” he says. “What did I think I was going to do? Knock out the great Muhammad Ali when I’d just been hurt and put down? If there was a quick fight that night, I was the one who benefited from it, not Muhammad Ali.

“I left the ring that night trying to find answers. There had to be more to life than just one, two, three and you’re out. That fight started me on my journey looking for big answers. And because of that fight, I found big answers.”

Foreman became a minister soon afterwards and preached around the United States, his words reaching an even greater audience thanks to his indelible link with Ali.

“When I first preached on the streets as a minister, nobody recognised me – I had cut my hair and my moustache. Then, one night when people were passing me by, I started shouting: ‘Yes, I’m George Foreman. I’m the one who lost to Muhammad Ali.’ People stopped. They didn’t know who I was, but they came back and I confirmed I was George Foreman.

“I realised then that it was my name and my association with Muhammad Ali and ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ that helped me with my ministry. So the one thing I’m really proud of is that boxing match with Muhammad Ali. And that picture on my computer helps me, too. When people say: ‘Do you really think you lost?’ I can say: ‘Well, here’s a photograph that proves it!’?”

Foreman’s reflections on his former self – and his relationship with Ali – have the feel of a confessional. “I had this air of superiority about me back then. I didn’t know how to lose. But that night something strange and mysterious happened to me. I lost, of course, but I just couldn’t understand it. The punches that I had relied on for so many years would land but do nothing. I thought it was kind of mysterious.

“All this time I thought I had advantages over Muhammad Ali – my strength, my power, my reach, everything. He was fighting me with the ultimate advantage, though, and that was that he loved me. He always loved me.

“The way I see it is this. Someone might tell you to look at the moon one day and you realise how beautiful it is. Then you realise it’s been there all this time. Well, Muhammad has been a wonderful human being all along.”

The days of Ali being able to offer his memories of that sultry night in Kinshasa are, sadly, no more, his mind and body ever more debilitated by Parkinson’s disease. Instead, as Thursday’s landmark anniversary approaches, it falls to Foreman to reflect on the fight that changed boxing forever.

“It was a moment for us all to look back and realise that we really were kings back in those days. The movie they made of the fight was When We Were Kings and there was no better title. We were kings. And boxing itself was the king of all sports.”

Anthony Ogogo: Muhammad Ali, Ryan Giggs and Steve Redgrave were my sporting idols

Where did you go to school, and was sport an important part of school life?

I went to Kirkley High School in Lowestoft, and sport was the most important part of my life. Even at primary school, Fen Park, I was so competitive, and even a bit naughty. Aged six, my teacher told me I was a leader, and it had a huge impact on me, and it made me listen.

Did you excel at other sports?

I captained the county football team, the school team, and was on the books at Norwich City and played for the youth team as a teenager. I also held records for swimming in Suffolk which I think still stand. My mum used to take me to swimming training at 5.30am most mornings, and that rhythm of getting up early, and getting into training has stood me in great stead for early morning runs in boxing training. I eventually gave up football because I found I was suited to pushing myself, I felt, harder than the people around me. Most people in individual disciplines would probably say that. I want to be able to blame myself and no one else.

Did sport interfere with your schoolwork?

Big time. I even did two of my GSCE exams in Hungary when I was taking part in the European Junior Boxing Championships. I had to box an Israeli rival on one day, travelled by train for two hours to Budapest, sat the exams for science and English at the British Council in Budapest the next morning and then in the afternoon, went back to the tournament by train on a two-hour journey, weighed in, and then fought a Russian.

What are your views on how sport should be delivered in school?

From a sportsperson’s point of view, it is something you definitely want to have as an important part of school life. Sport and PE are both valuable for us all in later life. I believe we should make more effort for sport to be central to school life.

Who were your sporting heroes when you were growing up?

Muhammad Ali. When I watched the first video of him I ever saw at the age of 10, I was totally in awe of everything about him. His style, his manner, his daring, the way he boxed and carried himself. In football, it was Ryan Giggs. Then Sir Steve Redgrave, who stood out because of the length of time he stayed at the top of his sport.

What was your most memorable sporting moment as a schoolboy?

Winning the National ABAs for the first time when I was 13, at the Barnsley Metrodome. There were only a few hundred people in there and it felt to me like I was going out at Wembley Stadium with 90,000 people cheering us on. An amazing feeling.

What advice would you give to schoolchildren interested in a career in sport?

Listen to your own aspirations, and your own dreams. I remember telling a teacher at school when I was 12 that I was going to be a professional boxer when I was older, and them telling me I’d never do it. Give everything you can to your sporting dreams. I’m now an Olympic bronze medallist, and I’ll be having my fourth professional fight on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jnr against Saul Alvarez in Las Vegas on Sept 14.

Rumble in the Jungle was 'liberation from chains that had shackled' black people, says Don King

Muhammad Ali always said he was not fighting for fame or money, he was not fighting for himself.

He was fighting for the black people on welfare, black people who had no future. He wanted to win for his people.

When we were working on the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, I had a feeling that the time had come.

It was very moving for me, because it was about black liberation, about freedom of the mind, of self-confidence, and pride because what we were doing was actually against all the odds; against all the racists who were espousing that black people could not rise to the occasion.

Yet here we had two black fighters, fighting for the world heavyweight title, staged on the so-called ‘dark continent’, promoted for the first time by a black promoter. This sporting event had a whole new dimension about it.

I do feel nostalgic looking back. ‘Working together works’ has always been my theme. We had Britain’s David Frost over in Zaire on the microphone, analysing the fight, and many of your writers from the UK were there.

We were all there, [black and white] working together, a combination that was salt and pepper.

It was liberation from chains that had shackled us. It was a breakthrough for black people worldwide. ‘Freedom’ was the cry.

There were problems, but it was a revolutionary situation, and we had to have faith that it would go ahead. It changed the way the world viewed major events.

For me, for others, it was just the beginning – the beginning of globalisation of a sporting event. When I analyse it logically after all these years it is the greatest promotion I have done, yes. The spirit was with Ali.

The most memorable thing was what happened after the fight. When the rains came it was like God speaking to us.

Under the stadium was the press room and water flooded it, and there were typewriters and telexes floating all over the place.

It was like an ordination. Muhammad Ali had been crowned.

Rumble in the Jungle: 26 reasons we love Muhammad Ali's iconic clash with George Foreman in Kinshasa

6. It was the perfect storm of two black heavyweights, in a golden era for the big men, duking it out in Africa. The symbolic nature of the contest was lost on nobody, not least the promoters.

7. It inspired a wonderful documentary movie 'When We Were Kings'. Leon Gast's Academy Award-winning documentary film, released 22 years after the fight, bathed the event in a golden light for later generations. Gast told Telegraph Sport: “Muhammad Ali sprinkled his magic on my work. When I first went down to see Ali, there was a lot of talk even back then in the seventies about mythical stuff and auras. He did have an aura around him.”

8. Muhammad Ali was the most famous person on Earth at the time. “He could literally go into any country in the world, walk out on to the street and draw an immediate crowd,” Foreman’s PR man Bill Caplan told Telegraph Sport. “He was bigger than the President of the United States, the Prime Minister of England and the Pope. None of them could do that without their entourage. Ali could walk anywhere and he'd have an immediate crowd. He did it in Zaire and had people following him by the hundreds.”

9. Ali furnished us with one of his most memorable rhymes to detail his preparation: “I've done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick."

10. Because of what Ali told British broadcaster David Frost: "If you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait 'til I whup Foreman's behind!"

11. For its music. The Zaire ’74 festival. The event was accompanied by a three-night-long music festival to hype the fight, on September 22-24. With king of funk James Brown, BB King, Bill Withers and others. The footage was made into the film Soul Power in 2008.

12. For its ultra-cool Afro hair-dos and safari suits. Sport's most brutal pursuit never looked so good.

Main men: Don King (left) consults with Muhammad Ali ahead of the 'Rumble in the Jungle'

13. It signalled the arrival of Don King - love him or hate him, one of the most significant figures in boxing history. And King is still promoting.

14. Its backers, including London-based Hemdale Film Corporation, a British film company founded by John Daly and actor David Hemmings. They were official co-promoters of the fight. Hemdale had launched the careers of the bands Black Sabbath and Yes. The company later relocated to Hollywood and made Platoon, The Terminator, The Return of the Living Dead, The Last Emperor and other films.

15. The bonkers politics. The fight was backed by by one of the most cruel, despotic tyrants in history in Sese Seko Mubutu, who cast a mesmeric, threatening shadow over the event. Mobutu saw the fight as the opportunity to put Zaire on the map and had come up with a promoter's purse.

Poster boys: Promotional posters for 'The Rumble in the Jungle' in Kinshasa

16. Its wonderful posters. One of them depicted Ali and Foreman in the foreground, with African slaves in chains behind them. “From slaveship to championship,” read the slogan. And King, with his electric-shock hair, appeared in the left-hand corner.

17. So many leading sportsmen and women cite it as the event they would have loved to have attended.

18. Even the elements were in thrall to its drama. There was a tropical storm which came down almost as soon as Foreman had been counted out. Observers had never seen rain like it. Typewriters in the press room in the stadium were washed away in the flood, the roads became rivers and little kids either side splashing about dancing and shouting 'Ali bomaye'.

19. Norman Mailer wrote a book about it in 1975 – ‘The Fight’. Mailer describes the dynamics of the fight in detail, comparing it to a chess match and to a piece of art.

Knockout: Muhammad Ali lays siege to George Foreman in Kinshasa

20. The fight itself was amazing. Ali was renowned for his speed and technical skills. Foreman at the time was all raw power. Defying convention, Ali began by attacking Foreman with disorienting 'right-hand leads' before then implementing a strategy which has become known as ‘Rope-A-Dope’. Ali frequently began to lean back on the loose ropes to cover up, letting Foreman punch him on the arms and body, to make him tire.

21. It was controversial. Ali bent the rules in the fight – and got away with it. He out-wrestled Foreman, leaned on him and pushed the champion’s head down by pulling on the back of his neck.

22. The sledging. Ali constantly taunted Foreman in the clinches, telling him to throw more punches, and that the champion’s huge blows could not hurt him.

23. Its extraordinary denouement in the eighth round. As Foreman moved in to try to pin Ali on the ropes, Ali landed several right hooks over Foreman's jab, then a five-punch combination, culminating in a left hook that brought Foreman's head up into position and a hard right straight to the face that caused him to fall, careering to the canvas. Foreman did get up at the count of nine, but referee Zack Clayton stopped the bout with two seconds remaining in the round.

24. It made Foreman - previously seen as a thug and mad, bad and dangerous to know - become a preacher.

25. It forged an inextricable link still forged, decades later, between Ali and Foreman. “We were forged by that first fight in Zaire and our lives are indelibly linked by memories and photographs, as young men and old men. We have a love for each other,” Foreman told Telegraph Sport.

26. And because four decades on, Ali is the living embodiment of the frailty of the human condition. But then, they were kings.

Inulpoker Swimming

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