Daley Thompson – decathlete, showman and national anthem-whistler – returns to his roots on Wednesday evening as the final torchbearer of the day at Alexandra Palace, close to where he used to train with his friend, London 2012 chairman Seb Coe, at Haringey Athletic Club in the 1980s.
In the process, which ends with him lighting a cauldron (a task he would like to repeat two days later at the opening ceremony), Thompson will become the 8,000th person to carry the Olympic flame since his fellow gold medallist Ben Ainslie began the relay at Land's End, on 19 May. "I did it in Sydney and it was a lot of fun – but doing it here at home is a bigger buzz still," he says.
Thompson trained in north London between 1980 and 1990, a decade in which he competed in three Olympic Games, won two Olympic gold medals and broke the decathlon world record four times. "I used to train at Haringey with Seb because it was the closest indoor arena to where I used to live. Nowadays they're everywhere.
"We were roommates in 1977, that was the first time we met up," says Thompson of Coe, and the pair have stayed friends since. Coe, who has vowed to take no part in the decision, has publicly backed Thompson to light the Olympic cauldron in the stadium on Friday, but Thompson, one of the oft-quoted favourites alongside Sir Steve Redgrave, says he had heard nothing. "No word at all. So I'm hoping nobody has heard. It would be an absolute honour – anybody who has any feeling for sport would want to do it."
Both Coe and Thompson have spoken about the lines of kids who thronged to Haringey after the 1984 Olympics – at which both men won gold – only to be turned away because of the club's lack of qualified coaches. Thompson hopes it will be a different story this time round at the what is now Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club.
"I hope everyone is inspired, of course – but I just hope they've got everything in place so that, if they do get a huge influx of kids, they don't have to turn them away. I hope we've learned since our experience in 1984, and can do something about it."
Thompson has not lost his anti-establishment streak, and has been unwilling to curry favour to secure the honour of lighting the Olympic flame. "There are a lot of good professionals out there, but there are still a lot of blazers too."
He admits he has been surprised by the success of the torch relay, which has now been seen by an estimated 11.5m people as it reaches its climax and passes through all 33 London boroughs. "Four of my friends have done it and I was up in Manchester when Bobby Charlton did it. It was pouring with rain and there were thousands of people out watching."
Daley Thompson is supporting the EDF Energy of the Nation, a nightly Olympic lightshow driven by the nation's London 2012 tweets. Use the hashtag #Energy2012 or go to edfenergyofthenation.com