OLYMPICS / News

Beckham to star for London at closing ceremony

chinadaily.com.cn
Updated: 2008-08-23 13:57

 

England footballer David Beckham will kick a handover ball on Sunday at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics to London, the next Games host city, according to a press conference held on Friday.

Organizers of the 2012 London Olympics has revealed the details of London's eight-minute slot, which includes cyclists Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade.

Musicians Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis will also perform during the London's part. According to Beijing Morning Post, US R&B singer Beyonce Knowles will also be on stage for London.

Among the performers are also three dance groups - the Royal Opera House, street dance theatre group ZooNation and CandoCo, a contemporary dance company of disabled and non-disabled dancers.

London's set will start with a symbolic red London double-decker bus driving around the Bird's Nest chased by Hoy, Pendleton and Reade on their bikes.

When it slows down at a bus stop, the three groups of dancers will surround the double-decker.

Afterwards the bus will transform itself, with the top half folding down in segments to show a hedge cut into shapes of the London skyline such as Tower Bridge, Battersea Power Station, the Houses of Parliament, and a phalanx of black umbrellas beside will be unfurled, BBC reported.

English pop singer Leona Lewis will emerge from the roof to sing a song and then guitarist Page appears to perform with Lewis a new version of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love.'

As the song nears its end, the former England captain Beckham will stand on another lift with a London girl and kick a football into the crowd of spectators in the stadium, switching everyone's attention to the handover party outside Buckingham Palace.

"We will not compete with the (Chinese) ceremony, it will be simple, youthful, athletic, loud and proud like London, entertaining and fun," said Bill Morris, Culture, Events and Education chief of the 2012 London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG).

Chairman of the LOCOG Sebastian Coe said Friday would mark the start of Britain's four-year "cultural Olympiad" and also provide the opportunity to present Britain's appeal to a global audience.

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