Olympic Special August 2012
byMargaret Afford (editor of The Bollard)
By now, I hope you all know about the singular honour given to javelin thrower Aidan Reynolds when he was selected to be one of the seven young athletes who lit the Olympic Cauldron at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
 |
| Sister Amelia, Aidan & Lyn Davies |
Aidan was nominated for this honour by former Welsh International and Olympic Gold Medal winner, long-jumper Lyn Davies, because of Aidan's performance at the Welsh AA Championships.
The previous U20 Men Javelin Championship Best Performance of 63.14m was set in 1986. Aidan bettered this three times during the competition setting a new CBP of 64.98m. Aidan's PB is now 68.32m. We thought it would be good to catch up with Aidan and find out some more details of his fantastic experience. He has been at the centre of a whirlwind of TV, radio and press interviews, and he has now had time to answer our questions.
Q. When did Mum Teresa find out?
A. When she saw me on TV.
Q. How difficult was it to have to keep it secret even from the family?
A. Pretty hard, although being in London it wasn’t like we had anyone we knew around us that we might slip the secret out to.
Q. How did you feel meeting Sir Steven Redgrave and other Olympians?
A. Amazing! It was such an honour to meet them, and they were really friendly and made us feel like we were just friends
Q. Have your goals changed since being at the Opening Ceremony?
A. Not massively. I have always been aiming for the Olympics in Rio but it has brought my aims into the light and made me realise how far I have yet to go.
Q. Having travelled to London, at what point were you told what your secret assignment was?
A. We were told on our first rehearsal on the Thursday before the ceremony.
Q. How many rehearsals did you have to attend?
A. About 5 of varying length and at different times.
Q. How did you rehearse lighting the petals?
A. We did a run through with the torches and the cauldron lighting up, only not with the Olympic flame obviously.
Q. What did Millie think about the whole experience, especially finding she would also be attending the Opening Ceremony? When did Millie find out what part you were playing?
A. She was over the moon. We had a great week in London with all the Olympic atmosphere and we were both buzzing all week and when the ceremony started. She knew about it at the same time as I did.
Q. Where did you stay and how did you travel to the Stadium?
A. We were put up for 10 days in a massive 5* hotel called the Corinthia and had all our transport covered, either by the Olympic vehicles or they would organise a taxi to pick us up.
Q. How much of the Ceremony did you actually see?
A. Millie saw the whole thing. I was allowed to watch until the start of the athletes' parade and then had to go and get ready.
Congratulations again Aidan on your selection and for being such a fine ambassador for the sport and for Telford AC.
