Carrying the Torch

Posted by Tom Locke on March 17th, 2009 filed in General, Sports ... All Sorts

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)  is one of the most proactive sponsors of the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games.   In partnership with Coca Cola, they are also sponsoring the torch relay, the symbolic race that is the lead up to the opening of the Games.   To this end, each company has provided an opportunity for 12,000 Canadians to carry the  Olympic Flame  and be part of this ceremonial relay.   To be selected by RBC  you must outline your pledge to create a better Canada.   Inspired by this, what follows is my submission.

I have been a proud Canadian all my life.   To carry the torch for the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Games would be a supreme honour.  

Instilled with a passion for sport at an early age, I began following the Olympics in the winter of 1960 when they were held in Squaw Valley, California, the first Games to be televised. I will also never forget the fact that computers were used for the first time to tabulate results and that the glass-walled IBM processor drew almost as many observers as the event venues.

Over the past five decades, many of the values that I gleaned from the “Olympic Experience” , I have embraced during my business career.   They include integrity, respect for others and commitment.   For me, the carrying of the torch symbolizes the “passing of the baton ” to the next generation of Canadians who will lead our country and, most importantly, represent us and successfully compete on a global stage.

Here’s hoping that I am one of the 12,000 Canadians who feel the same as I do.

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