Terry Fox honour at 2010 Vancouver Olympics

[charlene]

a wonderful tribute to the Olympic ideal of sport and amateur athletes. Terry was a B.C. boy and his mum/brother/dad should be allowed this honour. They have kept his legacy and Marathon of Hope runs to raise money for cancer research alive since Terry died in 1981.

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=17118.html

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112773030437

A torch for Terry Fox
The Globe and Mail
By Marsha Lederman, The Globe and Mail Posted Thursday, October 8, 2009 10:10 AM ET

VANCOUVER - When the Olympic flame is lit at B.C. Place on Feb. 12, 2010, tens of thousands of people would like that final torchbearer to be Betty Fox.

An online campaign, "Terry Fox's mother to light the flame at the 2010 Olympics," has been picking up steam this week, growing overnight from about 42,000 members on Tuesday to more than 76,500 by yesterday afternoon.

"We're hoping we'll have a quarter million by the time the Olympics roll around," said Mike Sveinson, who administers the Facebook group from Thunder Bay.

"It's being done in Vancouver, which would have been the destination for Terry. He would have ended there. So to have Betty light it in Vancouver is kind of completing the marathon in a way," said Mr. Sveinson, whose own mother died of cancer on his 30th birthday three years ago.

Mrs. Fox is aware of the campaign, but said she's not following it closely.

Still, she seemed to get a kick out of the news yesterday that so many people had joined.

"I'm very honoured and very proud to think that those people feel that way."

She said she has not been approached by Olympic officials, and wonders whether she'd physically even be able to do it.

"I've got arthritis pretty bad in my spine and it goes down into my hip, so it kind of hurts to even walk fast. But maybe I'll get rid of it if I did get out and practice - if I'm anything like my one son was."

Mr. Fox, who grew up in Port Coquitlam, B.C., was diagnosed with bone cancer when he was 18 and had his right leg amputated above the knee.

Three years later, in 1980, he set out on his Marathon of Hope. His intention was to run across the country to raise money for cancer research. But after 143 days, he had to stop outside Thunder Bay due to deteriorating health. He died the next year, at 22.

Lisa Freeman Evans remembers being about 11 and watching the news report saying Mr. Fox had been forced to end his run. "I sobbed. It was devastating when he had to quit."

Ms. Freeman Evans joined the Facebook group when it had just 40 members, and now helps run it.

"I think Terry Fox is in every sense of the word a true hero. I think he represents what the true Olympic spirit is about. And I think that Betty Fox is the most recognized association to Terry," she said. "Terry can't be here and I think that she would be the perfect representation."

Members of the Facebook group have e-mailed VANOC, urging Olympic organizers to consider Mrs. Fox.

What would her son have thought of the idea?

"I think he'd laugh like heck," Mrs. Fox said. "I can just imagine him playing the part of me trying to go up the stairs.

"I know a couple of my sons every once in a while [will joke], 'Have you started practising yet?' But they're just smart-asses."

Other names have been proposed for the final Olympic torchbearer, including retired hockey player Trevor Linden, wheelchair athlete and activist Rick Hansen, and Doug Alward, who accompanied Mr. Fox during the Marathon of Hope. There are even campaigns promoting the idea of Mr. Hansen and Mrs. Fox lighting the flame together.

But Ms. Freeman Evans has her heart set on Mrs. Fox. "I don't think you can ignore almost 77,000 people," she said.

"I think she's the only choice."

[Jesse Joe]

I am 100% for that, let's hope she can do it.

[charlene]

103,943 people are on the Facebook site now.

[Jesse Joe]

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.co...article/852567

Who will light Olympic cauldron in Vancouver?

Published Tuesday November 10th, 2009

Betty Fox leads Facebook campaigns for the honour

THE CANADIAN PRESS


In the eyes of Mike Sveinson and his tens of thousands of friends, it would be a fitting gesture to one of Canada's greatest heroes.



The Canadian Press

Betty Fox, mother of Terry Fox, wipes her eyes during a recollection of her son’s journey in Thunder Bay, Ont. in 2005.


Members of a Facebook group -- more than 114,000 and counting as of yesterday -- would love to see Betty Fox, mother of the late Terry Fox, light the cauldron to open the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

The group is easily the most popular of several online campaigns dedicated to the final torchbearer who will ignite the flame during the opening ceremony at B.C. Place Stadium on Feb. 12.

There are Facebook groups supporting Terry Fox's friend Doug Alward, along with "Man in Motion" Rick Hansen, hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, retired Vancouver Canucks captain Trevor Linden and even rocker Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip.

"It's kind of a neat thing," Terry's brother Fred Fox said in a recent phone interview. "We just see it as a way of Canadians wanting to acknowledge Terry and honour him, and we think it's fantastic. It's a recognition of Terry and his legacy and how Canadians still hold him close."

Whether it was legendary boxer Muhammed Ali at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the entire 1980 U.S. men's hockey team at Salt Lake City in 2002, or aboriginal sprinter Cathy Freeman at the Sydney Games in 2000, the lighting of the cauldron is one of the enduring images of any Olympics.

It's also a moment that unites the country, said John Furlong, the CEO of the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee. And the identity of the final torchbearer is a closely guarded secret, known only to a small group of officials.

"The lighting of the cauldron at the end of the ceremony will be Canada's ultimate wow moment," Furlong said in a statement. "As it nears its final destination, we want everyone to share the pride and surprise of the moment and as the identity of the final torchbearer is revealed."
Sveinson remains hopeful that person will be Betty Fox. He feels the honour would be a symbolic conclusion to the cross-country trek her son was never able to finish.

Terry Fox, who grew up in Port Coquitlam, B.C., was diagnosed with bone cancer when he was 18 and had his right leg amputated above the knee.
Three years later, in 1980, he embarked on his Marathon of Hope across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He was forced to stop after 143 days, just outside Thunder Bay, when the cancer spread to his lungs. He died the next year, at age 22.

Sveinson, from Thunder Bay, Josh Trager of Montreal and Trev Fisher and Lisa Freeman Evans of Vancouver, administer the "Terry Fox's mother to light the flame at the 2010 Olympics" group, which has been growing like a prairie grass fire since its inception several months ago.
"It's such an obvious idea," the 33-year-old Sveinson said. "Cancer affects us all, and when it comes to cancer in Canada, all roads lead to Terry Fox."

Sveinson said between the ages of 30 and 31, he discovered a tumour on his spine and his father was diagnosed with cancer. His mother died of cancer on his 31st birthday.

"The torch is coming across Canada and for it to make it to Vancouver, which is where Terry was going to finish, and for his mother to light it on a world stage, that's symbolic of the Marathon of Hope being completed," said Sveinson, who's targeting 250,000 Facebook members by the time the Games open. "It's such an overwhelming story."
Ian Bell thinks so too. Bell started the "Nominate Doug Alward to Light the Olympic Flame Group," dedicated to Fox's good friend who drove the van in the Marathon of Hope.

"I'm a guy that likes unsung heroes and I think (Alward) is sort of the poster child for people that shed the limelight but have a big impact through their actions," said Bell, who like Fox, attended Simon Fraser University.
Bell, whose group has approximately 550 members, has never met Alward, but said he's inspired by his story.

"I just wanted people to understand what this contribution's like, I think it's allegorical to what happens to all of us as we go through athletics," Bell said. "We learn from our coaches, we learn from the people who contribute to our success. Every athlete has a coach, every athlete has a trainer, there's a lot of people that go to work every day trying to make these people successful."

Alward, who has steered clear of the spotlight since Fox's death, said he was flattered so many people wanted to nominate him to light the Flame, but he didn't feel he deserved the honour.
"I have met many more kids and adults suffering with cancer and often dying of the disease who are far more worthy than me," Alward said in an email to The Canadian Press. "Cancer is the only reason I would be considered and all I did in relation to that was sit on my ass in a van and hand out oranges and water to Terry Fox every mile. That is certainly not heroic."

Fred Fox hadn't heard of the Alward Facebook group, but liked the idea of his brother's friend being honoured.
"Doug played a huge part in Terry's story," Fox said. "He put his life on hold for several months to be a part of it, and without a friend like that, who knows if Terry would have ever set off in the beginning. I think that's cool."

Like Bell, Dean Gilbert has never met his hero. Gilbert, from Kelowna, B.C., administers the "Call for Rick Hansen to light the 2010 Olympics Torch" Facebook group that has just over 3,000 members, and said he began the group in response to the Betty Fox group.

"Mostly I was hoping for a friendly rivalry with the other group," Gilbert said. "I don't have any expectations of actually being able to influence the committee's decision on who will actually light the torch, but to me this one's a no-brainer."

Hansen, who logged more than 40,000 kilometres through 34 countries on his Man in Motion tour to raise money for spinal cord research in the '80s, said he was flattered by the online campaign.
"I'm honoured to be recognized among so many other worthy candidates who are doing amazing things in our country," Hansen said in an email.

There are several different groups campaigning for Linden to light the Olympic cauldron -- the largest has about 300 members -- while the Downie group had 84 members as of Wednesday.
One member posted on the Downie wall: "Gord needs to light errr! Whooo!"

Fred Fox believes the Vancouver opening ceremonies will recognize his brother in some fashion, along with other famous Canadians.
Fred scoffs at suggestions that his mom, who is in her 70s and suffers from arthritis, wouldn't be physically capable of completing the final leg of the torch relay.

"Physically she's not sure if she would be able to run, but I don't know if that's a necessity either," Fred said. "She definitely could do it for sure."
As for the Vancouver Olympics being a symbolic ending to Terry Fox's cross-country trek, Fred said his brother's journey will never end.
"It's just one of those things that Terry never wanted," Fox said. "That's the way we were brought up, if you start something, you finish it yourself. Terry always believed when he left Thunder Bay that, if there was any way at all that he could get out there and finish it, he was going to, and when he realized his health wasn't going to get better, he publicly said he didn't want anybody else to finish it for him.

"That's why we do the Terry Fox Run every year. Until a cure for cancer is found, the run won't be done."

[charlene]

Beyond the cancer angle and the legacy still living on after all these years I think Terry's legacy of being an athlete is a paramount connection to the Olympics- celebrating amateur sports/athleticism.
He ran 26 miles a day, every day, for 143 days from Newfoundland to Northern Ontario...on one leg and one prosthetic leg! And the whole time the cancer was silently killing him as he ran on his Marathon of Hope and into every Canadians heart. He is the greatest athlete I can think of and my hero.

Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.

While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.

He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.

It was a journey that Canadians never forgot.After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount.
He ran 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario. However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at the age 22.

The heroic Canadian was gone, but his legacy was just beginning.

To date, more than $400 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world.

[jj]

I think it would be a wonderful and emotion moment if she were to light the Paralympic Games flame...if not, Rick Hansen

Ali's lighting was emotionally moving, however he was a former Olympian so it made sense that he light the Olympic flame

I'd think Nancy Greene would be a fine choice...or Ron Jones

[charlene]

Other than talking about the weather I don't think there's another thing that unites all Canadians in such an emotional memory than the sight of young Terry hopping along the highways of our country.
I admire Rick for his journey in his wheelchair but sweet Terry started it all..and amazing at it is that there are still runs all over the world it is profoundly sad that there even have to be runs held anymore at all...

[jj]

well, I only mentioned Rick cos he's still alive (and bungee jumping with Mercer, lol) if there a list of flame lighters over the years? wonder if any were every non-Olympians, or non-Olympian family members

but I agree, if seeking a moving opening, what could top something that's tied into something that's directly or indirectly "victimized" each person on this planet

[jj]

remember Tyson and Lightfoot at the Calgary 1988 event, they had Rick Hanson as part of that ceremony along with Ken Reed who passed the torch to that little 12 year old Robin to light the flame...so there's one example of a non-Olympian doing the task

I found a few others who have lit the fire in the stadium who were not famous, but nevertheless symbolized Olympic ideals.

Japanese runner Yoshinori Sakai was born in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the day the nuclear weapon Little Boy destroyed that city. He symbolized the rebirth of Japan after the Second World War when he opened the 1964 Tokyo Games.

At the 1976 Games in Montreal, two teenagers — one from the French-speaking part of the country, one from the English-speaking part — symbolized the unity of Canada

so it looks like Canada is known for breaking the tradition, i'm they will strive to keep it a secret right up til the moment arrives[COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important][/COLOR][/COLOR]

any guesses at who the musical acts will be for opening and closing ceremonies? Krall? RonJ?

[charlene]

still no press about opening/closing but:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/a.../10/c7787.html
and
http://sports.aol.ca/article/the-big...canada/736386/

[Jesse Joe]

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.co...article/867345


Metro burns with Olympic pride

Published Tuesday November 24th, 2009


Moncton hosts biggest celebration so far during Torch Relay

By Brent Mazerolle
Times & Transcript Staff




Organizers from the Vancouver Olympic Committee told a Moncton audience last night it was the largest they had seen to date on the Olympic Flame's 106-day journey around Canada, and the crowd at the brand new Stade Moncton 2010 Stadium on the Université de Moncton campus was estimated to have peaked at 12,000 people.




GREG AGNEW/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

George Gallant lights a stage torch at the Shediac celebration yesterday to the cheers of thousands of people.


RON WARD/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

Danielle Theriault of Edmundston runs in Moncton last night and here plays her torch like a guitar.


RON WARD/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

David Dickson of Miramichi starts his run after getting his torch lit by Russ Howard.


RON WARD/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

Suzanne Poitras of Moncton gets her torch lit by Elaine Stanlel also of Moncton on Main Street last night.











A proviso has to be added to that, however. School night that it was, much of the crowd, many of them families with young children, arrived late and left early. By the time most of the evening's entertainment had given way to speeches from Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc, Moncton East MLA Chris Collins, and Fundy-Royal MP Rob Moore, the crowd probably wasn't more than a 10th of its peak size.

That meant lots of people missed the dazzling fireworks display that ended the night. However, a burst of red and white pyrotechnics earlier in the evening had added some colour and extra excitement to the singing of O Canada. The national anthem was sung by a community choir under the direction of Nadine Hebert, and another 12,000 strong community choir under the direction of nothing but the patriotism the Olympic Flame inspires.

At the height of the celebration, the sea of people filled the entirety of the stadium's grounds, and spirits were as buoyant as the giant white protective covering over the track and field that all 12,000 of them were standing on. Picture the wolrd's biggest Bounce Sheet and you'll pretty much have the idea.

And though many engaged in that classic Moncton "let's leave at the 10-minute mark of the third and beat the traffic" tradition, when the stadium was filled, there was no denying the magic in the air. The percussive high-energy performances of VANOC's performers, with their drums and Cirque-du-Soleil style acrobats, really got the crowd going.

Artist Fritz Branschat's frenzy of paint splashes, which seemed to have no rhyme or reason but in the end yielded a portrait of a woman carrying the Olympic Flame, was also a hit.

Fiddler Dominique Dupuis and her band had 12,000 sets of toes tapping and the Jeunes Chanteurs D'Acadie sounded marvellous even in the open-air stadium. A great reminder of how the celebrations are about more than just cheering on the torch bearers, when one of the choir's members, young Manon Melanson, appeared on the big screen, a whole contingent down near the front started jumping up and down, Manon's mom Ginette and dad Mario, her little brother Dominic, plus a whole lot of cousins, aunts and uncles, and even a few strangers who picked up on the Melanson family's energy.

The star of the show, though, was of course the flame itself.
Asked what he was feeling when he saw thousands of people on hand to greet him as he carried the torch into the stadium to light the Olympic cauldron, Special Olympian Chris Briggs was at a bit of a loss for words, saying only "wow!" Asked what message he had for the crowd, especially the children among them, Briggs said "follow your dreams."

The event left behind several gifts for the community. Fritz Branschat's painting was presented to the City of Moncton as a gift to its citizens, and RBC employees made a $60,000 donation to the United Way of Moncton and Southeastern New Brunswick to mark the historic occasion. And accepting one of the 12,000 torches Bombardier made for the relay on behalf of the citizens of Moncton was Mayor George LeBlanc, who promptly kissed it.

"Go Moncton! Go New Brunswick! Go Canada!" he cried to the applause of an enthusiastic crowd at Moncton's newest community gathering place.
The Stadium was getting rave reviews from people, even though it's not yet completed. Indeed, even through all the celebrating, workers were hard at it up on the west side of the stadium, racing against the coming of winter. Only once were they seen pausing in their work, just to watch a few minutes of the fireworks at the end of the night.

Among those impressed with the new facility as much as the evening's entertainment was Dieppe's Mike Gallant
"It's really a great thing for Moncton," Gallant said. Not that he didn't think the entertainment wasn't great too. In fact, he attended the community celebration in Shediac earlier in the day as well.

The party at the stadium wouldn't have happened, of course, if the Olympic Flame hadn't made its way into Metro Moncton an hour earlier. The first torchbearer in Dieppe was Moncton's Albert Burke. The torch made a brief stop in front of Dieppe City Hall where a crowd of about 150, including Mayor Jean LeBlanc and a group of schoolchildren from Dieppe schools, were on hand to greet them. Mayor LeBlanc made brief remarks, led the crowd in three cheers, and then the torch caravan was off again through heavy evening traffic toward Moncton, escorted by Codiac Regional RCMP driving cars, motorcycles and bicycles.

Among those lucky enough to carry the torch through Moncton were Ed's Sub founder Gilles Ratté, Olympic gold medallist Russ Howard, and Moncton Wildcats general manager Bill Schurman. Schurman enjoyed a very special cheering section as he crossed the bridge over Wheeler Boulevard near the J. Louis Levesque Arena -- the entire Moncton Wildcats squad.

Also carrying the flame through Moncton was Riverview's Norma Reid, who was diagnosed with lupus in 2001, but has taken that life altering experience and spun her own Olympic Gold, reminding the thousands of her fellow Canadians who suffer from the chronic disease just what is possible.

The Olympic cauldron was extinguished at the Stade Moncton 2010 Stadium last night as the festivities wrapped up, but not before a bit of it was transferred to a classic miners' lamp for safekeeping until this morning. A few minutes after 7 a.m., the next torch relay will begin at Moncton's city hall, before the flame travels by human power through Riverview, and a number of Albert County communities, and by vehicle convoy along the highway in between relay locations.

[Jesse Joe]

Follow the torch relay live webcam !


http://www.ctvolympics.ca/torch/follow-torch/index.html

[Jesse Joe]

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.co...article/872158



DANIEL MARTINS/MIRAMICHI LEADER

With Miramichi’s iconic Centennial Bridge for a backdrop, Erin Redshaw of Oakville, Ont. passes the Olympic Flame to Josh Barry of Douglas, who was the last to bear it in the city.


{Follow the torch relay live webcam !}

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/torch/follow-torch/index.html

[Jesse Joe]

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.co...article/906722