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LONDON, April 6 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown greeted the Beijing Olympic flame when it passed No. 10 Downing Street on Sunday. Olympic gold medalist Denise Lewis carried the torch through Downing Street's famous black gates and handed it to Ali Jawad in a wheelchair as Brown and Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell looked on with smiles. Brown had stayed with Jawad, a Paralympic hopeful, inside his residence for about 20 minutes before coming out to welcome the torch. A beaming Brown shook hands with Lewis when she was coming up holding the torch aloft and then watched the official handover between the two athletes. Brown has rejected calls to boycott the Beijing Games on various occasions and confirmed that he would attend the opening ceremony in August. Jawad is on the brink of Paralympic qualification of Beijing Games. He said in his application to be a torchbearer that "it would mean the world to me if I was chosen to carry the Olympic torch in my home country, as it will motivate me further to succeed, and become a role model for the next generation of disabled athletes". Lewis won the heptathlon gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Five-time Olympic champion rower Steve Redgrave started the London leg of the global Olympic torch relay, at 10:30 a.m. from the Wembley Stadium and double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes, final of the 80 torchbearers, is due to reach the O2 Arena in Greenwich to ignite the cauldron. Special report: 2008 Olympic Games |
