Olympic torch: Flame makes dramatic arrival in London
LONDON. July 21. KAZINFORM The Olympic flame has arrived in the host city in dramatic style, being abseiled into the Tower of London from a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter at the fitting time of 20:12 BST, according to BBC.
The Sea King took off from Guildford at the end of day 63 of the torch relay.
Earlier, a 17-year-old was arrested after trying to grab the flame as the torch relay passed through Gravesend.
He sped out of the crowd towards the torchbearer and was wrestled to the ground by Torch Security Team officers.
After Royal Marine Martin Williams abseiled with the flame into the Tower of London , Dame Kelly Holmes - who won the 800m and 1500m gold medals in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games - became the capital's first torchbearer as she carried the flame on to the ramparts of the Tower.
She handed the flame to Abul Kasam, 30, who was selected as a torchbearer for his voluntary work in the borough of Tower Hamlets, and who carried the flame into a reception for invited guests at the Jewel House.
Dignitaries present included Locog Chairman Sebastian Coe, Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman and General the Lord Dannatt, Constable of the Tower of London.
Lord Coe said the Tower of London was a fitting entry point for the Olympic flame in to London as "it is where the power and the significance of the Monarch resides, while it also houses London 2012's medals - all 1,760 tonnes of them are secreted about this building somewhere".
He said that in the nine weeks of the Olympic torch relay so far, more than 10 million people had come out to more than 1,000 towns, villages and cities to celebrate not just the flame but the extraordinary contribution of the torchbearers' to London 2012.
Mr Johnson added of the Tower's significance: "As Henry VIII discovered, with at least two of his wives, it was the perfect place to bring an old flame."
He said tomorrow the flame would begin its procession through London until "millions of Londoners have seen the flame with their own eyes and, as it spreads through the city, I know its radiance will dispel any last remaining clouds of dampness and anxiety that may hover over some parts of the media in this country".
The flame was to take part in the Tower's ancient Ceremony of the Keys - before being taken to the Queen's House by Lord Dannatt for safe keeping overnight.
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