Olympic torch passes through So. Bruns.

Flame must reach

Salt Lake City by Feb. 8 for start of 2002 games

By charles w. kim

Staff Writer

South Brunswick residents had the honor of watching the Olympic torch pass through Kingston on Sunday.

"We are honored to have the torch come through our town," Mayor Debra Johnson said Wednesday. "It is a beacon of peace and hope, especially in these troubled times."

The torch, carried by East Orange resident Josh Davis, entered the township on Route 27 at about 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

More than 11,000 people are slated to help the torch travel the 13,000 miles to Salt Lake City, Utah, for the start of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games on Feb. 8.

South Brunswick was only one of three towns in the state that saw the torch pass by on foot. The torch was transported inside of a van for the majority of the trip into New York.

Once in the city, the torch passed through each borough with celebrity carriers such as Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Yankees manager Joe Torre.

The torch was also carried by more than 70 residents of New Jersey as it passed through the region. Many of those people, approved by the Olympic Committee, helped pass the torch in the city and in Pennsylvania as well.

The torch will pass through the majority of states on its way to the games, according to relay organizers.

According to the Olympic torch relay Internet site, more than 210,000 applications were taken to find individuals to carry the torch from Atlanta to Salt Lake City.

The committee started taking applications for torchbearers from late February until May 7.

"The torchbearer selection process will go to the heart of the games’ theme. There is a fire, a spirit, that burns in all of us, and we are looking for the Olympian in everyone," said Matt Romney, the president of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee in February.

The nomination process for torchbearers included a 50-100 word essay asking candidates to show they met certain criteria.

That criteria included: how the candidate inspires others to achievement, how they have been a source of inspiration to their community, whether they embody the spirit of the Olympic movement, and if they motivate others into overcoming adversity.

This year torchbearers started the relay on Dec. 4 in Atlanta, the last U.S. city to host the games.

According to the relay organizers, the flame will travel about 208 miles every 12 hours in order to reach Salt Lake City in time for the start of the 2002 games.

While this relay seems long, it is much shorter than the relay that took the torch to Sydney, Australia.

That relay traveled 37,500 miles and took 120 days to reach its destination.

The torch itself is about 33 inches long and weighs in at about 3 pounds.

The torch was designed by Sam Shelton, a professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech.

According to organizers, the torch was designed to withstand weather ranging from minus 40 degrees to gusty wind and heavy rain.