Inspirational stories of the first Olympic torchbearers

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games made its first 6,800 conditional offers for a total of 8,000 “inspiring people” to take part in the 70-day Olympic Torch Relay.

Those with an offer have until January 25 to accept the date they have been given, provide a copy of required documents, and confirm their uniform size and access requirements. The final Torchbearer team will be revealed by March after candidates pass the required background checks.

Candidates are selected through a number of channels, such as public nomination campaigns run by LOCOG and Olympic sponsors, and through invitation.

Selected candidates who received a conditional offer included:

• Simon Brown, 32, from Morley, Leeds, nominated through Lloyds TSB’s public nomination campaign for helping young people come to terms with their loss of sight after he lost his while saving the lives of his colleagues when serving in Iraq;

• Moira Starkey, 84, from Storridge, Herefordshire, nominated through LOCOG’s public nomination campaign for completing her first fundraising marathon aged 83 by doing laps around her village hall;

• Cameron Foster, 16, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, nominated through Coca-Cola’s public nomination campaign for helping less able young people get involved in sport inspired by his own skiing accident and long rehabilitation;

• Darwin Bernardo, 23 from north London, nominated through Samsung’s public nomination campaign for his work identifying opportunities for young people to engage with their local community;

• Matt Short, 20, from Tonbridge, Kent, nominated through Samsung’s public nomination campaign for setting up a charity to research a rare form of bone cancer he was diagnosed with in November 2007.

• More in Friday’s Yorkshire Post