London Announces Beijing Handover Plans

LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe, Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and London mayor Boris Johnson take part in the handover announcement. (ATR/J.Corbett)(ATR) A party on the Mall August 24 will mark the handover of the Olympic flag to London during the closing ceremony for the Beijing Games.

Other events are planned for London and across Britain on the final day of Games.

In Beijing, an eight-minute show of dance and music, including performers from the Royal Opera House, will form London’s part of the Beijing closing ceremony. London Mayor Boris Johnson will take the Olympic flag from the Mayor of Beijing at that time.

The free celebration concert on the Mall in London is planned for 40,000 and will be broadcast live on BBC television and radio.

Sebastian Coe, chair of LOCOG, said the closing ceremony in Beijing would mark the beginning a "four-year journey" for London. He promised to ensure that people from the "length and breadth of the U.K. are involved in those celebrations".

London 2012 organizers would only confirm that "a number of high-profile acts" would perform at the concert, which will be sponsored by Visa. Sebastian Coe says London's four year journey begins at the handover. (ATR/J.Corbett)

Officials were also unwilling to confirm reports that England footballer David Beckham and pop star Leona Lewis will join Johnson in leading the handover celebrations in Beijing.

Reports Sunday suggested that they and other British stars will converge on the Bird's Nest stadium in a red Routemaster bus, one of London's most iconic symbols.

London 2012 officials say that plans for the exact format of the handover celebration are ongoing, and were cagey when asked to provide further details.

But Mayor Johnson did admit that there was discussion over whether to have London's handover party in the more "republican" Trafalgar Square or the "Royalist"' Mall.

The Mall runs between the Queen's London residence, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square.

"We have now sorted that all out and there will be parties everywhere," he said at a news conference Monday.

Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said that the handover would be "a truly historic moment" for the whole of the UK.

As well as Visa's participation, "It is going to be absolutely fantastic. We must bottle that euphoria and spread it throughout the country," says London mayor Boris Johnson of the handover party on the Mall. (ATR/J.Corbett)she revealed the involvement of British Telecom and Lloyds TSB in the handover celebrations - two of London's top tier sponsorship partners.

They will sponsor four big screens in London and a further dozen nationwide which will relay the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony. Pending local planning permission, the screens will remain in place until 2012.

Peter Ayliffe, Visa Europe's CEO and president, said that his company's involvement built on its "historic backing" of the games.

"For us, London 2012 doesn't start in 2012, it starts on 24th August."

Coe said that he intends to announce the involvement of further tier one sponsors in the handover celebrations in "the next two to three weeks".

EDF Energy, British Airways and Adidas are London's other top tier partners to date.

LOCOG is expected to announce the identity of another tier one sponsor before the Beijing Games.

With reporting from James Corbett in London.

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