Daley Thompson beamed as he lit the Olympic cauldron tonight as the final torchbearer of the day at Alexandra Palace. 

But perhaps his wide smile was because he was envisaging lighting it again two days later at the London 2012 opening ceremony - he is one of the British greats in the frame for the honour. 

The double-gold winning decathlete is currently locked in a war of words with Sir Steve Redgrave about who deserves the role. 

Daley Thompson implied that rowing was much easier than his own specialism of track and field, adding that Sir Steve was ‘not in the same class’ as his friend Sebastian Coe.