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| Olympic cauldron lighter Jordan Duckitt wants youth to follow the flame | |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| A year ago Jordan Duckitt's family switched on their television on holiday in Cyprus and received the shock of their lives. | |
| The schoolboy, then 18, had found out a fortnight earlier that he would be part of the Olympics opening ceremony but it was not until he arrived in London and met with the director, Danny Boyle, that he learned he would be lighting the flame. | The schoolboy, then 18, had found out a fortnight earlier that he would be part of the Olympics opening ceremony but it was not until he arrived in London and met with the director, Danny Boyle, that he learned he would be lighting the flame. |
| Even then, he was sworn to secrecy, joining six other teenagers in a 4am rehearsal to evade media attention. When he first met his fellow flame-lighters, each nominated by a famous British Olympian, Duckitt thought he must be in the wrong place. Each was an up and coming athlete – including the 200m world youth champion Desiree Henry – but he found he had been nominated by the 1980 gold medallist Duncan Goodhew for his work as an ambassador with the Youth Sport Trust. | |
| "He wanted someone to represent the volunteers because sport wouldn't be possible without the volunteers, the coaches and the officials. It was such a radical idea. I started to realise what a strong message it would send out and what a stroke of genius it was," says Duckitt, now 19 and just finished his first year as a medical student at Edinburgh University. | "He wanted someone to represent the volunteers because sport wouldn't be possible without the volunteers, the coaches and the officials. It was such a radical idea. I started to realise what a strong message it would send out and what a stroke of genius it was," says Duckitt, now 19 and just finished his first year as a medical student at Edinburgh University. |
| "We had been talking about inspiring a generation and young people doing it for themselves – I had been doing it for four or five years, going around schools. Now, at the key moment of the opening ceremony, they were going to be passing on a torch. It didn't have to be me, it could have been any young person. I was lucky enough to be there." | "We had been talking about inspiring a generation and young people doing it for themselves – I had been doing it for four or five years, going around schools. Now, at the key moment of the opening ceremony, they were going to be passing on a torch. It didn't have to be me, it could have been any young person. I was lucky enough to be there." |
| Before the Games, Duckitt had played a key role in fighting proposed cuts to the schools sport budget and succeeded in forcing the education secretary, Michael Gove, into a partial U-turn by leading a march on Downing Street. He and others are taking a similarly direct approach to convincing children that they can be involved in sport in a variety of ways, whether as athletes, coaches or officials. | Before the Games, Duckitt had played a key role in fighting proposed cuts to the schools sport budget and succeeded in forcing the education secretary, Michael Gove, into a partial U-turn by leading a march on Downing Street. He and others are taking a similarly direct approach to convincing children that they can be involved in sport in a variety of ways, whether as athletes, coaches or officials. |
| "It's all about getting children to take it on themselves, not leaving it up to the teachers or politicians," he says. "Those small differences are getting more people involved. It's getting people to take up coaching qualifications. A few people might take it on and then their mates will get involved. Or they might run a sports festival for primary schools." | "It's all about getting children to take it on themselves, not leaving it up to the teachers or politicians," he says. "Those small differences are getting more people involved. It's getting people to take up coaching qualifications. A few people might take it on and then their mates will get involved. Or they might run a sports festival for primary schools." |
| In the face of an avalanche of figures and predictable spin from a government keen to demonstrate the lasting value of the £8.7bn invested in the Games, Duckitt is keen to offer his experience as a reminder that the surge of enthusiasm the Olympics engendered in teenagers up and down the country was real. | In the face of an avalanche of figures and predictable spin from a government keen to demonstrate the lasting value of the £8.7bn invested in the Games, Duckitt is keen to offer his experience as a reminder that the surge of enthusiasm the Olympics engendered in teenagers up and down the country was real. |
| "What a fantastic thing we had, so we've got to use it. It is being used. Although people will be the first to knock the legacy, it's because they don't really understand what it is," says Duckitt, who has continued to visit schools to speak as part of the YST's Lead Your Generation campaign despite having left Caistor Grammar in Lincolnshire last summer. | "What a fantastic thing we had, so we've got to use it. It is being used. Although people will be the first to knock the legacy, it's because they don't really understand what it is," says Duckitt, who has continued to visit schools to speak as part of the YST's Lead Your Generation campaign despite having left Caistor Grammar in Lincolnshire last summer. |
| "We're saying it's something from within, we're talking about the sporting legacy – getting young people to come together and keeping the enthusiasm going." | "We're saying it's something from within, we're talking about the sporting legacy – getting young people to come together and keeping the enthusiasm going." |
| A year on from the moment the Duckitts turned on their TV to see Jordan lighting Thomas Heatherwick's distinctive cauldron, he is evangelical about the need to maintain the momentum. | A year on from the moment the Duckitts turned on their TV to see Jordan lighting Thomas Heatherwick's distinctive cauldron, he is evangelical about the need to maintain the momentum. |
| "There are many people who have fallen back and don't see how they can be involved. Legacy is not a thing. It's a change in thinking," he says. | "There are many people who have fallen back and don't see how they can be involved. Legacy is not a thing. It's a change in thinking," he says. |