Olympic Torch


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As he carries the Olympic torch Sunday,
Joseph Cerevolo remembers the 15 heroes of
Engine 54, Ladder 4 , Battalion 9
who died in the World Trade Center attacks.
(Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune)

NEW YORK -- They do things in a big way in this town. And on Sunday, the citizens of New York City gave the 2002 Winter Olympic torch relay a welcome that even Salt Lake City may be hard-pressed to top when the flame finally arrives there in February.

New Yorkers turned out by the thousands to watch the torch wend its way through Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens, then jammed the Rockefeller Center Plaza in the rain to watch Mayor Rudolph Giuliani deliver the torch in the relay's last leg of the night.

"I carry this flame in honor of my heroes in the New York Fire Department, the New York Police Department, the Port Authority Police Department, all the emergency workers and all those who gave their lives on September 11," said Giuliani, attired in a New York Police Department jacket and a New York Fire Department hat.

Giuliani addressed a crowd that numbered over 10,000 in and around Rockefeller Center, according to police estimates. But it was a much smaller and quieter ceremony out on New York Harbor that packed the day's biggest emotional wallop.

There, a group of 14 torchbearers who lost loved ones or co-workers in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center passed the torch to one another and sang "God Bless America" as the New York Waterway ferry they were aboard rounded the Statue of Liberty. Soon after, the boat silently steamed past ground zero in lower Manhattan before docking near midtown Manhattan for the torch's final run of the day.

"We have good days and bad days," said New York City firefighter Joseph Cerevolo, who lost hundreds of firefighting brothers Sept. 11. "But this helps uplift the spirits for a while, and that makes it all worth it."

Said Erika Haub, whose firefighter husband, Michael, was killed in the trade center collapse: "I've got a 4-year-old son and a 17-month-old daughter. I'm only 23, but when my kids get older, they'll be able to say that their mom did something to honor their father."

Even Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney, who took part in a similar ceremony Friday at the Pentagon, was unprepared for the feelings that poured out on that boat -- not unlike the water cannons that fired a foamy salute to the torch from the New York Fire Department boats that escorted the ferry.

"Seeing the Olympic flame has always been a very powerful experience," said Romney. "But it has now become, in some respects, a torch for America in a time of healing. It's taken on a far more emotional and unifying role.

"We always knew we'd be coming to Washington and New York," Romney added. "But we didn't realize how poignant this would be."

The torch began its day much as it has many others, winding its way through the neighborhoods of three New York boroughs, and propelled along by dozens of carriers -- including New York Yankees Manager Joe Torre, New York Islander hockey star Alexi Yashin, a Russian Olympian and actor Christopher Reeve, who motored the flame from his wheelchair.

But clearly, the thousands that assembled in Midtown for the torch's final journey were there to see New York's No. 1 hero -- Giuliani, named Sunday as Time magazine's Person of the Year.

With crowd bellowing cries of "Rudy! Rudy!" the mayor took the torch handoff from New York Fire Department Capt. Richard Parenty at the plaza entrance and jogged at a brisk clip down to the Rockefeller Center ice rink, which held hundreds of burning candles for this occasion. There on a podium, to the strains of the official Olympic torch relay theme -- "Carry the Flame" -- Giuliani lighted a cauldron that will remain burning in the plaza until Wednesday.

But the outgoing mayor, who will hand the reins to Michael Bloomberg next month, also took the time to do a little politicking -- surprise -- while on the stump, urging support for New York's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. He also wished Salt Lake City well.

"I hope you have enormous success with the Winter Olympics," said Giuliani. "It's going to be great for the morale of the American people."

Those who carried the torch Sunday certainly felt a surge in their spirits. While the tears flowed, so did a satisfaction that was hard for many to describe. "I just can't get over the emotion involved," said Mary Geraghty, whose late husband, Battalion Chief Edward Geraghty was one of the first firefighters to arrive at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. "It's just an honor to do this. Not only for my husband but for everybody involved."

"Next to my child being born, this is the greatest moment of my life," said New York Police Department officer Claudio Fernandez, who supervised the evacuation of 20,000 New Yorkers out of the areas surrounding the World Trade Center before and after the twin towers' collapse. "I've always loved the Olympics. To be able to do this is just amazing."