Olympic flame arrives in Canada

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-31 05:21

VICTORIA, Canada: The Olympic flame for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games arrived on Friday morning in Victoria, Canada's westernmost provincial capital, from Greece, and a historic nationwide torch relay was kicked off.

Catriona Lemay Doan, former Olympic speed skating champion, and Olympic triathlon champion Simon Whitfield together lit the torch at 11:05 a.m. Pacific Time, to officially launch the 2010 Winter Olympic torch relay.

Le May Doan, who won back to back gold medals at the 1998 and 2002 Olympic Winter Games and five world championships gold medals from 1998 to 2002, and Whitfield, a gold medalist at the 2000 Olympics and silver medalist last year in Beijing, were chosen to unveil the relay as the first torchbearers from some 12,000 runners representing every province and territory of the country.

The relay will be the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history with a 106-day journey covering 45,000 kilometers and more than 1,030 communities, and will reach within 900 kilometers of the North Pole, ending at the Vancouver Winter Games' opening ceremony on February 12, 2010.

"The flame embodies the Olympic ideals of excellence, friendship and respect. These values resonate deeply with all Canadians," said Stephen Harper, prime minister of Canada, at a public ceremony in downtown Victoria.

"The Olympic flame will be traveling across Canada on the longest torch relay within a single country in Olympic history. With nearly 200 communities across Canada participating in local celebrations, this is a chance for Canadians from all parts of our great nation to share in the excitement as we count down to the Games' opening day," said Harper.

"What a magical moment," said John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Games' Organizing Committee (VANOC). "We are embarking on an odyssey that we hope will shine a bright light on the people and places of Canada, starting right here in Victoria."

"For 106 days, we will have the time of our lives finishing back here in British Columbia for an Olympic Winter Games we hope will be marked in history as among the best," Furlong added.

"As mayor of the host city, I am delighted that the hands of Canadians will carry this flame on a historic journey that will end in Vancouver," Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said.

"The torch is the beacon of the Games. It represents the Olympic message of peace and friendship and we look forward to welcoming it to Vancouver in 2010," said the mayor.

Earlier in the morning, a Canadian Air Force's Polaris aircraft touched down on Canadian soil at the Victoria International Airport, carrying the Olympic flame and a Canadian delegation back from Athens, Greece.

The Olympic flame for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games was kindled at Olympia of Greece, the ancestral home of the ancient Olympic Games on October 22, and handed over to the Canadian organizers by members of the Hellenic Olympic Committee on Thursday after a week-long relay through Greece.

Prime Minister Harper, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell and VANOC CEO Furlong greeted the flame's arrival at the airport. Mayor Robertson of Vancouver, carried the flame off the plane in a miner's lantern, as the stirring skirls of a solo bagpiper filled the early morning air.

The flame convoy arrived at downtown Victoria at 9:45 a.m., and the lantern traveled across Victoria's Inner Harbor in a trio of traditional West Coast dugout canoes of the aboriginal Four Host First Nations.

An enthusiastic crowd on the harbor front waved Canadian flags to welcome the Olympic flame.

After a traditional ceremony of First Nations, the flame was carried by First Nations chiefs, who sang traditional songs, to a stage setup on the grounds of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings for the start of a public welcoming ceremony.

During the ceremony, people observed a moment of silence to Jack Poole, the late chairman of the VANOC board of directors, who died of pancreatic cancer at 76 last week just hours after the flame was lit in Greece. The Canadian businessman was the key person to bring the Games to Vancouver as Chief Executive Officer of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation.

Darlene, Poole's wife, lit a small torch with the Olympic flame and set a 1.2-meter community celebration cauldron ablaze on stage.

The relay is seen as a great community event in Canada, and thousands of people are set to show their zeal to the Vancouver Olympics with a big community celebration on Friday night on the legislature lawn featuring both performances and rallies.

However, the Olympic torch is also expected to meet on its way protesters representing a variety of causes, from native groups and anti-poverty activists to civil rights advocates and opponents of Canada's seal hunt.