Elmo seeks to be Olympic torchbearer

NEW YORK, June 5 (UPI) -- "Sesame Street" Muppet Elmo has kicked off a campaign to be one of the torchbearers in the run-up to this summer's Olympic Games in London.

Elmo released a video online and an announcement on his Facebook page explaining his desire to run with the torch as it makes its way to the opening ceremonies of the Games, NBC's "Today" show reported Tuesday.

"He loves the fun of being an athlete," "Sesame Street" executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente told Today.com. "He's learned lots of things on Sesame Street about exercise being good for you."

Parente said Elmo would not accidentally leave the torch with a stranger, as he does in his campaign video.

"Sesame Street kids and even the puppets use lots of techniques for remembering," Parente said. "We've had an incident where he's tied something to his finger to help him remember, so maybe some sort of a flame-colored rope around his finger might help him to remember to carry the torch."