Sporting superstars visit Olympic exhibition at ROH
The Royal Opera House welcomes Olympic heroes including Sir Steve Redgrave and Dame Kelly Holmes.
A star-studded line-up of sportsmen and women recently visited The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games, a free exhibition at the Royal Opera House that traces the story of the Games from their origins in Ancient Greece through to the inspirational stories of athletes competing today. Other famous faces at the event included Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins.
From Sir Steve Redgrave, the only Olympian to have won five consecutive gold medals, to Amir Khan, the youngest British boxer to win an Olympic medal, an array of sporting greats came to see the story of the games played out in the Paul Hamlyn Hall.
The exhibition features archive footage and artefacts from across the ages, as well as the personal stories of a selection of 16 great modern day Olympians, including Dame Kelly Holmes, who won both the 800 metres and 1500 metres at in Athens in 2004.
On being included in the exhibition, Kelly said:
To be included as one of the featured athletes in The Olympic Journey in my home country is a real honour. Every Olympian has a story to tell, and I hope mine is an inspiration to many people who come and see the exhibition at the Royal Opera House. There’s such amazing energy in the city at the moment. I hope that the sport and cultural activities on show in London will really encourage and inspire a whole new generation. – Kelly Holmes
Earlier on this week, Balbir Singh, three-time gold medalist on the hockey pitch, visited the exhibition.
Russian gymnast Olga Korbut will attend the exhibition tomorrow, Friday 3 August, and will be signing autographs for fans from 10am. Visitors to the exhibition will also be able to take home a snapshot of their own Olympic moment, posing for photographs with the London 2012 Olympic torch.
For further details of The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games, see our previous news feature.
