The 1988 Olympic 1500 metres silver medallist, who has worked since 2004 for the English Institute of Sport providing British competitors including Jessica Ennis-Hill with science and medicine support, told insidethegames:

"The first I heard about the parade was when I got a phone call from Mike McLeod [Olympic 10,000m silver medallist from 1984].

"He asked me, 'Are you taking your medal on Friday?' and I didn't know what he was talking about.

"I had obviously been overlooked by the BOA.

"They said they didn't have an address for me, which I found quite interesting as I was contactable at the EIS and I had lived at the same address for the past 11 years.

"In the end they came back to me and said, 'If you come on the night we will give you a pass.' I decided not to take them up on that.

"So I watched the Opening Ceremony from the comfort of my own armchair with a beer in my hand."

Peter Elliott chose not to take up a last minute offer to put him on the list of past British Olympic medallists invited to parade at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Games

Elliott confirmed that he had also not been contacted when the BOA had offered all past British Olympians two tickets for the London 2012 Games.

He added that he had received a call from Steve Ovett, the Moscow 1980 800m champion now living in Australia, who had seen the story about his snub.

"Steve had also been left off the list for the parade," said Elliott. "We had a bit of a laugh about it, and Steve said, 'Spare a thought for those of us who won a gold and didn't get an invite!'"

Steve Ovett, Britain's 800m champion at the 1980 Olympic Games, also missed out on an invitation to the British medallists' parade

It was an especially unfortunate turn of events for the chairman of London 2012, Sebastian Coe, given his intense rivalry with Ovett and Elliott, who took one of the three British 1500m places at the 1988 Seoul Olympics when Coe was not chosen to defend his title.

Elliott however dismissed suggestions made at the time that old rivalries would have had anything to do with his or Ovett's omission from the list. "I am sure it had nothing whatever to do with Seb," he said.

To read the full interview with Peter Elliott click here. 

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