Rio Olympics 2016: The seven teenagers still carrying a torch for our Games hopes

Three years ago today seven teenagers, picked by former Olympians such as Steve Redgrave and Kelly Holmes to ‘inspire a generation’, lit London’s Olympic cauldron. Here they tell Matt Majendie how they have fared since

The seven cauldron lighters carry their Olympic torches at London 2012 (Getty)

Desiree Henry (100 metres, nominated by Daley Thompson)

I’ve been based in Holland since November, with my coach Rana Reider having moved here. In some ways, it just feels like an extended training camp.

Thankfully, everyone speaks English so I’ve been lazy and only picked up a couple of words. But I owe a lot to London 2012: it did exactly what I thought it would do, motivating me to keep in the sport.

I remember we didn’t know a lot, we were just brought to the Olympic Stadium and suddenly we were in a huddle, with the film director Danny Boyle telling us what we were going to do. It was a dream.

Knowing I was nominated by Daley Thompson, I was like “wow”. I didn’t even know he was watching – it was an honour that he’d noticed me.

Since then I’ve had a bad bit of luck. In the final training session before the world relays in May I had my head down training when one of the coaches crossed the track and I hit him full tilt, causing a tear in my hip in the process.

For me now the goal is the Olympics next year in a very exciting and competitive time for British sprinting.

Desiree Henry is aiming for the Rio Olympics (Getty)

Cameron MacRitchie (rowing, nominated by Sir Steve Redgrave)

My rowing’s taken a bit of a back seat, having just finished my final exams at Durham University in biology.

In my freshers year I got a bad back injury, bulging discs on my spine, and I had to have various steroid injections. So that season I couldn’t kick on and when I came back I found it very difficult to get back to where I was before. I couldn’t get the fitness back to where it needed to be.

As the degree went on, I found balancing the rowing with the work harder to do and I had a choice, whether to continue with the rowing and sacrifice my degree. I was still having problems with my back and felt I could go back to my rowing but I wouldn’t be able to go back to my degree so I decided to concentrate on the academic side, which led to over a 10 per cent increase in marks from the past year.

I think my journey shows how hard Olympic sport is and how hard it is to get to the very top. Rowing had been my life so there was a huge gap initially. I missed the competition and the camaraderie.

Katie Kirk (800m, nominated by Dame Mary Peters)

I still get asked about lighting the cauldron, that’s how a lot of people know me, but I want to be known for my running.

My winter training had been great and I’d hoped to come out and run a fast time but sometimes that just doesn’t happen. I’m not running as fast as I’d like but I’m hoping to come back stronger next year.

I’ve also changed allegiance from Britain to Ireland, which was a bit of a slow process. I’m happy with my decision – it feels just right from a personal point of view.

I’m a full-time student doing a food science degree and I’m maybe interested in getting into food technology and product development but I’m taking a year out of my studies to be a full-time athlete to focus on that and, hopefully, getting to Rio.

A lot of people will look at my results from the past couple of years and think I don’t have a chance of making Rio but I still believe I’m good enough to go. But really Tokyo in 2020 is the main aim.

Aidan Reynolds (javelin, nominated by Lyn Davies)

People don’t mention the cauldron-lighting any more – it’s not like I get stopped by people in the street because of it or anything like that.

I’m studying physics at Oxford University and I’m keen to get into particle physics. I’ve just finished my third year and I have a fourth to come then possibly a Masters and even a PhD after that.

I’d hoped to keep the athletics going but it’s had to be on the back burner this year and next so there’s no competitions for me at the moment, although I like to keep fit.

My coach is based in Loughborough so obviously that makes things a lot tougher and I’d not improved my PB for a couple of years so, hopefully, the break will see me come back refreshed.

I definitely want to get back to the Olympics and 2020 would be the goal. I’ve always said I want to get back to the Olympics but as an athlete. Lighting the cauldron instilled that in me.

Adelle Tracey (800m, nominated by Dame Kelly Holmes)

My main aim for the season was to make the team for the European Under-23s, although it was bittersweet placing fourth. I can truly say I gave it my all but, of course, I wanted more.

I’ve also been training at altitude for the first time, at camps in Kenya and Font Romeu, which has been an amazing experience.

Amid the athletics, I’m studying for a sports science degree at St Mary’s [in Twickenham] and I also work as a make-up artist with a speciality in prosthetics.

I want to do the athletics full-time but I have to realise I can only do that for so long. I’ve always been an athlete that makes progress every year – I’ve PB’d every season since I was 12.

With the lighting the cauldron, I think maybe I was a bit naive as I didn’t realise the scale of it perhaps but looking back I’m like, “Wow, I did that”. I think a lot of people still remember that moment.

The aim would be to be back competing in that stadium for the World Championships in 2017 – that seems a more realistic goal than the Olympics.

Jordan Duckitt (Games ambassador, nominated by Duncan Goodhew)

I’m the odd one out of the group in that I’m not an athlete. I got selected for getting involved in the volunteering and leadership side of things.

I do remember when I met everyone before we lit the cauldron thinking ,“I’m in the wrong place”. When Duncan Goodhew picked me, it sent a powerful message, I think, of the volunteers and I still have my torch from the day. It got decommissioned but I’m keen to fill it up and use it to toast marshmallows!

I’ve just finished my latest set of university exams for my medical degree in Edinburgh. This has been my first clinical year, so the first time in hospital and seeing patients.

What I love about Edinburgh is that it’s so multi-cultural and there’s always something going on. And there was a good buzz with the Commonwealth Games up in Scotland.

Callum Airlie (sailing, nominated by Dame Shirley Robertson)

Airlie declined to be interviewed but Dame Shirley told The Independent: “I still keep in touch with Callum and because of the magnitude of the event there’ll always be that special bond.

“Like a lot of young athletes he’s had that common dilemma with his studies – he’s studying medicine in Aberdeen. He’s still sailing a bit but his studies are the focus at the moment, although he may well come back to the sport full-time, I don’t know. I know the determination and focus he showed to sailing so I know he’ll be a great asset to the medical world.

“It just shows how hard it is to be Olympic champion and that you need a bit of luck to go your way for things to slot into place. I know I worked hard but I certainly had my lucky breaks. But I suspect Callum will be back in the sport.”