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Bookmakers in London have vowed to refund all bets placed on who would light the Olympic cauldron in the London 2012 Olympics, after some of Britain's greatest Olympians teamed up with young athletes for the honour. Online sports betting firm William Hill believed that as few could have predicted the surprise move, the only fair solution was to refund more than 50,000 pounds of the bets placed over the last seven years. Graham Sharpe, of William Hill, said the firm would be refunding everyone's stake. "What happened, no-one could have predicted. It was not put to us, nobody quoted it. The only fair thing to do was to refund all the bets from over the last seven years," the Daily Express quoted Sharpe, as saying. According to the paper, Britain 's greatest Olympian, Sir Steve Redgrave, who was an early favourite to light the cauldron, ran into the stadium holding the Torch. However, he was greeted by seven young athletes, each of whom lit one of the copper petals, which had been brought into the stadium with the teams and then rose to form the cauldron. Other bookmakers, including Sky Bet, also voided all bets, saying it was "impossible to back the correct flame lighter", the paper said.

Bookies to refund all Olympic flame lighting bets