Here I stood approx. two hours before I carried the torch.
I have always been a fan of the
Olympics.When I found out the Olympics were being held in
Atlanta, I was thrilled. Atlanta
is close to Miami, and I have family there. So the day the
tickets went on sale, I sent in
my form and money.I chose some premier events like Gold
Medal Round Ladies Gymnastics and
Running, but I also played it safe and chose Weight
Lifting and Canoeing.
Well, two months went by, and I
received the letter saying I received NO TICKETS! None!
Not a one! Iwas alittle upset,
after ordering on the first day and over nighting the forms to
them,they cashed my check and kept
the $20 application fee and refunded the rest. After
that, I was pretty upset. Many
months later, I saw a commercial on TV from Coca-Cola and
Walgreens Drug Stores about this
contest. So I went and filled out the forms.I could
not nominate myself, so I had a
friend do it. And that was it, I forgot about it. Several
months passed and it was the furthest
thing from my mind, when at 7 AM I got the call from
my friend saying I won the contest!
I couldn't believe it! I actually won, outof 250,000
contestants, I and 2,499 other
people won. And that's how I was able to carry the Olympic
Torch.
Here, I'm exiting the Olympic Bus.
I was slated to carry the torch on July 5, 1996 at 12:30PM...anyone
who knows anything about Florida, knows that July, (noon-time), is the
hottest time of the year. Usually a July day is close to 95 degrees
and about 90% humidity. So I feared the hot weather. Plus,
on average, it rains every summer day in Florida, and that torch relay
would happen rain or shine. I was very lucky however, it didn't rain
and even at noon, it wasn't unbearably hot outside.
The Olympic Torch Commitee gives you a strict schedual
and monthly newletters. I arrived at my meeting point, a Mc Donalds
on Sunrise Blvd in Ft. Lauderdale around 10 AM. The bus above was
parked in the back parking lot, and myself and about 10 other torch bearers
met there. We all had to wear the designated white T-shirt and shorts,
as well as white socks, our own sneakers, and our hair tied back with no
hair-spray. The air-conditioned bus would drive ahead of the 20 vehical
entourage and drop us off at our retrieval point. There, we were
to wait for about 5 mintues for the Torch Runner to pass along the flame
from their torch to ours. Above, the bus drops me off at my retrieval
piont, (I was VERY lucky, I had a great location, located next to a park,
so there were MANY spectators...hundreds for my three block run)
Here I wave, holding my "Purchased" Torch, just prior to retrieving
the flame.