By KIMBERLY ACEVEDO
I was overwhelmed that someone thought enough of me that they would send in a nomination, Noreen Graham, who carried the torch through Staten Island said. I was shocked that I was selected.
Each participant, running or walking, carried the torch for a quarter-mile. The torch, started in Atlanta, GA, will make its way through 47 states before its final destination in Salt Lake City, Utah. Made of two symbolic components, fire and ice, each torch is 27 inches and weights 3-and-a-half pounds. The torch is inscribed with the bearer's name and can be purchased by its carrier for $400.
Nominated by her good friend William Gorta, Graham was notified last July that she was selected as a potential torch bearer.
I was very surprised by it, Graham said. I honestly thought it was a joke. Then came the phone call confirming that she had been selected as one of the 11,500 torch bearers out of over four million people who were nominated.
Graham, who recently retired from the New York Police Department, was the third person in New York State to bear the torch on Sunday, Dec. 23. With her husband, Brian and two sons, Seamus and Patrick watching, Graham carried the torch through part of Staten Island.
For Charles Steele, several family members and friends nominated him. Steele was notified last August that he would bear the torch. We were all jumping up and down cheering, Steele said. This was something spectacular and it's a dream come true.
Steele, a historical tour director, carried the torch through a part of Queens on Sunday, Dec. 23, as his family cheered him on. He was able to keep the torch since his sponsor, Coca-Cola, paid for it.
It's an experience that you can't describe, said Steele, who has ran 35 marathons. I felt like I was following the footsteps of the ancient Greeks. It was exhilarating. I dream about it often and talk about it often.
Long Beach resident Robert Daly was watching TV with his wife, Kathryn, when an advertisement for nominations to carry the Olympic torch came on. Mentioning to his wife that he would love to carry the torch was all his wife needed to hear. Without telling her husband, Kathryn nominated him.
Robert Daly, a firefighter from Engine 242 in Brooklyn, was notified last July that he was selected to carry the Olympic torch.Daly carried the torch through Flushing, Queens, while his family cheered him on.
I was really psyched, Robert Daly said. It's kind of an honor and a once in a life time thing. It was a really neat thing.
