Road To The Olympics: David Beckham blazing Olympic flame's path from Greece to Britain

This is one of a weekly series of stories, called Road to the Olympics, that will focus on different aspects of the preparations for the Summer Games in London.

(CBS/AP) LONDON - Soccer star David Beckham will soon be holding the Olympic torch.

Organizers of the 2012 Olympics say the 37-year-old British athlete will bring the Olympic flame back from Greece as the torch begins an 8,000-mile tour across Britain.

Beckham, who plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy in the United States, will join officials at a handover ceremony in Athens on Thursday.

Organizers said Wednesday that the former England national soccer team captain will then carry the torch back to the U.K. on a flight Friday, along with Princess Anne and other officials. He'll also be joined by  five young sport ambassadors.

Beckham was part of the delegation that helped London secure the Summer Games ahead of a 2005 vote.

The July 27 opening ceremony will be held at Olympic Stadium in east London, nearby Beckham's childhood home.

The flame was lit at the site of the ancient Games at Olympia last week and has been in Greece since then.

A total of 8,000 people, including several royals, will carry the torch during a 70-day relay that will begin in Cornwall, southern England, and reach the Shetland Islands, off Scotland's north coast.