Olympic homecoming awaits torch relay at opening ceremonies in Vancouver
Posted by admin - 12/02/10 at 03:02 amVANCOUVER, B.C. - The Olympic flame finishes a journey Friday that has linked this country through the thousands of torchbearers that have brought it to Vancouver, where the Winter Games will officially begin when it lights the cauldron at the opening ceremonies.
Just who will be the final torchbearer is still a mystery, a closely guarded secret that has fuelled speculation, rumours and anticipation.
But that sort of anticipation is something Vancouverites are used to by now, waiting for months for the torch to arrive and nearly a decade to welcome the world to the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“Everyone has been waiting so patiently for the torch to come home, and now we’re ready to host the Games,” the city’s mayor, Gregor Roberston, said Thursday night after a massive community celebration in downtown Vancouver.
“We’ve seen apparently over half a million people in the streets of Vancouver celebrating the flame, and I think (watching the televised opening ceremonies), now we’re into the billions.”
The final day of the torch relay will feature a healthy selection of celebrities, including former action movie star and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Wayne Gretzky’s father, Walter.
The relay has already been fuelled by star power, such as Canadian crooner Michael Buble’s stint with the torch Thursday night.
“The last six or seven, eight years as I’ve gone around the world, the first thing I’ve always said is I was Canadian,” Buble said after his run.
“It always made me really proud. . . . It’s emotional, I’m shaking. I mean, I’ve got goosebumps and I’m a guy who doesn’t get nervous for a lot of things. I don’t get overexcited by too much, but it’s going to be hard to sleep tonight.”
The relay’s final day will also likely be met with protests, which have confronted the torch earlier in the relay. A demonstration at the University of British Columbia on Thursday was held back by police before it could interrupt the relay.
Friday’s route begins in the city’s fabled Stanley Park, and touches well-known areas of the city including Chinatown, Granville Island and the troubled Downtown Eastside, where anti-poverty activists plan to have homeless people camping in bright red tents along the relay.
But it will also be greeted by many thousands of people who are expected to line city streets to cheer on the last few torchbearers in a 106-day relay that has covered 45,000 kilometres since arriving in Victoria last October.
Sixty-five-year-old Kate Hill saw the torch Thursday night for the second time - she also watched the relay ahead of the 1988 Calgary Olympics.
“You can’t help but be moved by it, I saw the Calgary one as well, and it’s the same every time - it’s just amazing,” said Hill, as spectators banged cowbells behind her.
Katelyn Moore, another Vancouver resident who greeted the torch Thursday night, said the Olympics were a long time coming, but also seemed to come out of nowhere.
“It just sort of fell right on us - it felt like it wasn’t happening and all of the sudden it was here,” said Moore, 24. “It (seeing the torch) was kind of emotional.”
Moore already knows most of what will happen at the opening ceremonies before the torch arrives. She saw a dress rehearsal earlier in the week, but she’s not giving anything away.
“My mouth is zipped on what it was, but it was pretty amazing,” said Moore.
The relay finishes mid-afternoon at the Four Host First Nations aboriginal pavilion, and after that, the flame won’t been seen again until it lights up the cauldron at B.C. Place stadium.
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