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Eight-year-old picked for star Olympic role
Matthew Beard, Evening Standard11.07.08
An eight-year-old Anglo-Chinese girl has been lined up to appear with David Beckham when London receives the Olympic flag from Beijing next month.
Erika Tham will hand the former England captain a ball in the closing ceremony which he will then kick off a red doubledecker bus into the crowd at the Bird's Nest Stadium.
She will also appear alongside X Factor winner Leona Lewis.
Erika, an aspiring actress, spends half the year in Beijing and half in London.
After being chosen for the role she said: "I was screaming my head off and shouting. I was so happy and excited."
Shewas reportedly nominated after someone saw her perform in a production of Oliver in China.
Her mother Kathy Janssen, a Canadian who grew up in Britain, told Canadian press: "I'm just excited that Erika gets to do the things she loves."
Reader views (2)
Surely if you are going to pick a face, it should be someone that actually lives in the UK fulltime and maybe even you would think that someone with a sporting interest with an interest in possibly participating would be chosen - there are thousands of young mixed race children in the UK who have sporting potential, coming from under privileged backgrounds that could have benefited far more than this young girl that is not a born and bred Londoner.
No wonder so many young kids with great sporting potential give up when they should be encouraged and nurtured to achieve great things for themselves.
Someone from a sports grassroots level should be chosen - be it cycling, netball, basketball etc..not a young aspiring actress - last time I looked, I did not see acting at the Olympics!
- Aubrey Welch, London
I understand that this 8 years old ' aspiring actress' was born in London ( Ontario,Canada) and not in London UK. Was this an oversight by the people who selected her?
- Adrian, london
