I’ve seen two Olympic torch relays in my life. The first one was for the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988. I remember it being very cold. I remember the cheap plastic cups and candles they gave us to share the flame amongst the crowd. I carefully took the burning candle home, and I still have that original flame burning to this day. It is very hard to keep a flame burning for 20 years, but my love for the ideals behind the Olympics is very strong. I usually buy cases of long lasting candles from Costco. Once, the flame almost died in 1999 when two tires were slashed on my car and I couldn’t get to a store in time to purchase candles. I ran, with the dying flame supplanted by left over birthday cake candles, to a 99 cent store. My own personal relay! Ha. Ha. I made it, and the flame is beside me right now.

The hardest part was getting the flame from Canada to Hong Kong. I ended up shipping the flame via fed-ex in a mosquito coil contraption that I set up. I had phoned the now defunct Oasis airlines if I could bring a flame on board, but they said it couldn’t be done. Those Olympic hating jerks! This is all a lot of work that must be done every day, but I love Olympic Torch Relays more than you do.

The second relay? It was for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The Relay in Hong Kong was going to be ran right next to the apartment I’m staying at. I filmed the whole thing, edited the footage, and threw it on youtube. Enjoy!

Hong Kong Olympic Torch Relay Wan Chai From Rooftop