More details have been announced today about the Flame Festival being held in Scotland’s Capital to mark the start of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
With 100 days to go until the Games, The City of Edinburgh Council and its partners are working on plans to host the only Scottish Flame Festival event.
On the morning of 26 August, the Paralympic flame will be lit at the Agitos on the Mound, after which the Flame will be taken to Meadowbank, where several disability sports clubs will be holding a ‘come and try’ session.
In the evening, a Flame Festival celebration will be held in Inverleith Park including music and entertainment. A procession of athletes (past, present and future) will carry the flame to light a cauldron on stage at the end of the evening.
Lord Provost Donald Wilson said: “As Paralympian athletes and hopefuls across the UK start the final 100-day countdown to the London 2012 Games, our events team is working hard to lay on an unforgettable Flame Festival celebration this summer. The event will take place at the very height of Festival season when the city will be positively buzzing with life and excitement – it really couldn’t be a better time to showcase Edinburgh and Scotland as a whole to a vast international audience as the world looks forward to the Paralympic Games.”
Edinburgh resident Sam Ingram, 26, (Judo -90kg) won a bronze medal in Beijing 2008 and will be competing at his second Paralympics. Although born in England, Sam has lived and trained in Edinburgh for many years and is currently supported through the sportscotland Institute of Sport.
Scottish Disability Sport Chief Executive Officer, Gavin MacLeod said “Today is a hugely exciting day for everyone involved in disability sport in Scotland; particularly for all our athletes, coaches and volunteers who will be actively involved in the Paralympic Games. This once in a lifetime opportunity will allow us to showcase disability sport like never before and provides a wonderful platform for our elite athletes and players to compete at a Paralympic Games in front of a truly global audience. This will undoubtedly result in unprecedented profile for disability sport, the birth of a new generation of sporting role models and demand for access to opportunities from an inspired population of potential athletes and players. Excitingly we already have a number of athletes and players selected in the sports of boccia, swimming, judo, football and wheelchair rugby with the prospect of more to follow when sports make their final selections.”
More details of the Paralympic Flame Festival will be posted on the Events Edinburgh website as available.
Throughout the day today, the Big Screen in Festival Square (now officially Scotland’s only Olympic Live Site) will broadcast 40 short films featuring Paralympian athletes.
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