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The Becks factor: David to join X Factor star Leona Lewis in Beijing closing show
Updated 13:08pm on 16 Jun 2008
David Beckham and X Factor winner Leona Lewis are among stars being lined up to feature in the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
The 'handover' performance will mark the point when the next games are officially passed on to London for 2012.
The X factor: David Beckham seen here with Los Angeles Lakers' star Didier Mbenga, will star in the closing ceremony at the Beijing Olympics
A central feature of the eight-minute spectacle in Beijing's 90,000-seater Olympic stadium will be a Routemaster bus on loan from Transport for London.
Leyton-born Beckham will jump off the bus for a kickabout with children representing every country in the world.
At the next stop in the arena, Lewis, from Hackney, who won the 2006 X Factor show, will perform one of her hits.
The production will culminate in Boris Johnson receiving the Olympic flag from his Beijing counterpart.
Leona will join football superstar David Beckham to perform at the controversial Beijing Olympics
The Mayor has admitted practising every day to ensure he does not make a mistake at the ceremony - where he has to wave the six-metre flag back and forth eight times.
He told business leaders that 'with an audience of three billion people watching, it would be rather embarrassing to drop it'. The flag is expected to be exhibited at City Hall.
Organising committee chairman Sebastian Coe today defended the decision to have 'hoodie' dancers perform at the Beijing ceremony.
Hip hop dance troupe Zoo Nation is famous for the West End show In The Hoods, which features a drug-dealing pimp.
Speaking on LBC this morning, Lord Coe said: 'It's not all about hoodies, it's contemporary dance. Let's not get carried away my kids wear hoodies at the weekend.
'Dance is very much a part of the culture in London, so don't get the idea that this is a sort of Asbo world.
'This is actually quite a serious contribution to the cultural fabric of the city.'
Reader views (5)
O dear I have to agree with you, also add to the fact that Beckham is not really a patriotic person and he like all other footballers only wears the England kit because it helps to promote brand Beckham. This is really a load of nonsense that is just made up as they go along and made to look like tradition. What would have happened if Labour had not resurrected the idea (a bad idea at that) of a London mayor/leader who would have received the flag at the handover ceremony? Maybe this was the idea for Labour inventing the mayor, not for democracy for London, but for the pr opportunity it offers via the Olympics.
- Steven Patrick M, London, UK, 16/06/2008 15:31
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What on earth is Beckham doing as part of the closing ceremony? What has he done, apart from earning an over inflated salary and lose every World Cup he participated in as captain? He has done absolutely nothing to deserve this and neither have the 'hoodie' dancers. How much lower can Great Britain go?
- Louie, London, 16/06/2008 15:21
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Please, please, please find another sports 'celebrity'!
Why the hell do we have to involve the Beckhams? What about true Olympians? Sir Steve Redgrave, Daley Thompson, Steve Cram to name just a few would be far more suited to this event. I know I'd switch off if I saw that grinning human doodle-board once more.
I suppose the hoody-gang-dance is to tie in with the awful 2012 logo we have. Is this to try to show the world Britain is 'down wid it'?
- Scott, London, 16/06/2008 14:18
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Nice, so we have an over the hill footballer, a talent show contest winner and some hoodies representing the UK, it says everything really doesn't it?
- O Dear, London, 16/06/2008 13:12
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Excuse me but what has Beckham, who has known only defeat throughout his England career, got to do with the Olympics? Or is it to show that the UK is used to losers?
- Albert Swift, Aberdeen, Scotland, 16/06/2008 12:47
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