VANCOUVER — The Olympic torch has blazed its way back into B.C.
With it Black Press newspapers launched an online photo slideshow on Flickr to showcase all the ways B.C. residents are expressing their Olympic spirit.
You’ll see the slideshow on our websites as the torch makes its way around the province.
And you’re invited to add your own photos — not just of the torch relay, but of everything you and your neighbours are decorating, wearing or doing to support Team Canada.
Go to www.flickr.com/groups/olympicspirit and follow the instructions there.
Day 84 of the torch relay saw BC Lions head coach Wally Buono take the torch at the B.C. border from former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed.
“This is a very special time,” Buono said.
“This handoff marks the start of the final leg of the Olympic Flame’s historic journey across Canada — a journey that has connected Canadians like never before,” said Premier Gordon Campbell.
“The torch relay has touched the farthest points in our nation and spread the spirit of the Games to hundreds of communities and millions of people. Today, British Columbians are celebrating the return of the Olympic Flame and cheering it on as it heads towards BC Place Stadium to kick off the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in just 22 days.”
It’s no coincidence the first B.C. community to welcome the torch was Golden — a town whose name reflects the country’s Olympic dreams. The flame swings through the Kootenays before heading up the Okanagan early next week.
See the interactive Olympic torch relay map to chart its path in the days ahead.
The torch will spend a total of 27 days in B.C. and be carried by 3,500 torchbearers.
When it arrives at BC Place to light the Olympic cauldron on Feb. 12, the flame will have travelled 45,000 kilometres across Canada.