London, Jul 28 (IANS): The mystery over who would light the Olympic cauldron was finally resolved when seven teenagers were given the honour at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Games.

Thomas Heatherwick's design of the Olympic Cauldron has been one of the most closely guarded secrets of the whole ceremony.

When the competing delegations arrived in London, they each received a copper petal -- inscribed with the name of their country and the words "XXX Olympiad London 2012". They carried these petals during the Athletes' Parade at the opening ceremony before laying them down.

The seven young torchbearers, each nominated by a renowned British Olympian, moved towards the centre of the field of play and ignited a single tiny flame within one of the copper petals on the ground, triggering the ignition of more than 200 petals.

The cauldron's long, elegant stems gently rose towards each other and converged to form one great flame of unity.

The seven chosen youngsters were Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Desiree Henry, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds and Adelle Tracey, aged between 16 and 19.

The cauldron will be moved to take pride of place in the Olympic Stadium within the eyeline of competing athletes.

At the end of the Games, each team will take their petal home and the London 2012 Cauldron will cease to exist. Like a flower that only blooms for its time, during the competition, it will be a temporary representation of the extraordinary transitory community that is the Olympic Games.

Many had speculated that the cauldron would be lit by English footballer David Beckham, but that possibility was ruled out when Beckham appeared earlier in the opening ceremony piloting a speedboat which contained the Olympic torch down the Thames.

Beckham passed the torch to five-time gold medal winner Steve Redgrave, who had the honour of taking it into the Olympic Stadium. The flame then passed though the hands of the seven young athletes, who took it to the Olympic Bell.

There they were joined by seven British Olympic heroes -- Lynn Davis, Duncan Goodhew, Kelly Holmes, Mary Peters, Shirley Robertson, Daley Thompson and Steve Redgrave -- and these seven each passed a torch to one of the youngsters under the gaze of 260 British Olympians who had competed at Games since 1948.

The seven then made their way together to the middle of the stadium and together lit the cauldron.