By Liz McBreen
Several weeks before the event, the family received a phone call from the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee notifying them that Patrick had been chosen for the honor. Monetti's mother Katherine had nominated him to be an Olympic torchbearer on CocaCola.com.
Proud parents Stephen and Katherine, along with Patrick's six siblings gathered along Atlantic Avenue between Logan and Euclid Avenues to watch the torchbearer run his leg of the relay.
The only person chosen from the three towns to run with the torch, Monetti says that he was "very excited" to receive the call. He went on to say that he was "the only runner under the age of 19 to be chosen" for the job. Monetti ran two-tenths of a mile through Brooklyn before handing off the torch.
Patrick is the second oldest of seven Monetti children. The family lives in the Elmont home where Stephen grew up. The Monettis home school their six sons and one daughter, who range in age from two to sixteen years old.
"I was really excited and honored to have this opportunity," said Patrick. "It's isn't every day an event like this comes through town." In fact, this marks only the fifth time an Olympic torch relay has been conducted in the United States (Squaw Valley, 1960; Lake Placid, 1980; Los Angeles, 1984 and Atlanta in 1996).
According to his father, Patrick currently studies at the 10th grade level is also involved in extracurricular activities. He is a junior karate black belt and has obtained the rank of First Class in the Boy Scouts of America.
The torch relay began on Dec. 4 in Atlanta, Georgia, the last place the flame rested on U.S. soil back in 1996. Over the 65 days of travel throughout the country, the relay will cover 13,500 miles through 46 states, more than 125 cities and 22 state capitals. As of Thursday, the relay was moving through Colorado en route to its Feb. 8 arrival in Salt Lake City.
Monetti was one of over 11,500 torchbearers in the United States, including former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani, former Miami Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino and San Francisco Giant home-run record holder Barry Bonds.
