Officials fail to invite ‘lost’ medallist

The former middle distance runner from Rotherham came second in the 1500m final in Seoul in 1988 and is now regional director for the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

But he was somehow left off a list of 250 British medallists who paraded around the Olympic Stadium in the ceremony, despite working closely with Team GB in the build-up.

Apparently the British Olympic Association claimed it could not track down Elliott, 49, who also won Commonwealth gold.

He said yesterday: ”It’s disappointing more than anything. I had a call from another former athlete who was going and wondered why I hadn’t been invited.

“I rang the BOA and they said they didn’t have any contact details for me, which is pretty surprising.”

Elliott was offered a ticket on Wednesday but he said it was too late to drop work commitments and added: “It would have been nice to have been invited at the same time as everyone else and then I would have been able to go. I’ll have to watch on TV.”

A BOA spokesman: “We are unable to comment about anything to do with the opening ceremony.”