Four-time Olympic gold champion, Michael Johnson, held aloft the Olympic torch at dawn this morning in front of Britain’s most iconic monument - Stonehenge.
London’s winning bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games stressed Britain’s rich heritage across the country and the Olympic Torch has passed some of this nation’s most historic treasures.
Stonehenge is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular stops on its route. Raised 5,000 years ago, the stones are a testament to the ingenuity of our ancestors while the Olympic Games themselves celebrate mankind’s desire to reach higher heights. In Michael Johnson, the Games has one of its greatest heroes.
“Stonehenge is a cultural institution,” said Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, “older than the Games themselves. And they are both the focus for great communal gatherings. The Olympic Torch and Stonehenge are two of the great symbols of the world. To bring them together is profoundly exciting.”
Stonehenge is not the only site in the National Heritage Collection at which the Olympic Torch will stop. This Saturday the torch will pass Queen Victoria seaside home, Osborne, on the Isle of Wight while on Wednesday 18 July, the torch will climb to the top of the medieval Great Tower at Dover Castle.
