The spirit and symbol of the Winter Olympics will arrive in Eugene a little after 10 a.m. today.
The Olympic Torch will make a brief stop at the Eugene Amtrak Station during its transnational journey, where Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey will light it and give a brief address at 10:15 a.m.
The torch’s first Eugene carrier, Amy Feinberg, will take the torch after its lighting and carry it on the first leg of its route. The complete route runs through downtown, past Franklin Boulevard to Glenwood Boulevard, where carriers will load the torch into a motorcade and transport it to Portland.
“The torch is a symbol that we can keep the light of friendship alive,” Torrey said. “It symbolizes what people can accomplish.”
No University students will carry the torch, but former Duck quarterback Joey Harrington will carry the torch in Portland at 6:15 p.m.
Olympic Torch Relay spokesman Mark Walker said Chevrolet, Coca-Cola and the Salt Lake City Olympics Committee selected torchbearers whose experiences inspire others and fit with the theme of the games: “Light the fire within.”
Eugene resident Shannon Scott, a 1979 graduate of Sheldon High School, will carry the torch from 7th Avenue and Oak Street to Broadway and Pearl Street. He said the theme of the games is fitting.
“Unless you have that inner fire, you can’t achieve you goals,” said Scott, who was training for the 1980 Olympic swim team before the United States boycotted the games. After learning his Olympic dream had ended, Scott moved to Rome with several members of his church and worked for three months building houses after an earthquake.
Sandy Serpas of Eugene said she is “overwhelmed” by the opportunity to carry the torch.
“It’s amazing to see so many people show interest in this,” Serpas said. “It’s amazing to know I’m part of something so big.”
Serpas’s parents died when she was young, and doctors have told her that she probably had a stroke when she was born, leaving her with a speech disorder and occasional motor skill difficulties with the right side of her body.
She has worked for U.S. Bank for 23 years, and is currently a district operations manager. She was also single while raising her daughter, Christy, now 31.
“Those people are what the relay is all about,” Walker said. “They represent what it means to sacrifice and inspire.”
The torch itself represents “a fiery icicle in motion,” Walker said. The torch is 33 inches long, weighs 3.5 pounds and is made of glass, copper and silver.
The torch’s fire is enclosed in glass, in keeping with the theme of the games, and Walker said rain will not extinguish it.
“We took it through a torrential downpour in Louisville (Ky.),” Walker said. “We should be able to handle the rain in Oregon.”
Torrey said relay organizers assured him rain would not extinguish the torch, but if the rain threatens the flame, “we have great umbrellas here.”
Last year, prominent members of the International Olympic Committee received criticism when investigators discovered the members had accepted bribes, such as cash and scholarships for children, from Salt Lake City officials in exchange for choosing the city to host this year’s Winter Olympics.
Despite the controversy, the torch has lost none of its luster, Torrey and Walker said.
“The manner in which Salt Lake City acquired the games has caused the image of the IOC to lose luster, but the torch has and continues to rise above those things,” Torrey said.
“Our focus is on the torch, the games and the athletes themselves,” Walker said. “The torch is still the symbol it’s been since it was created. We’re hoping for an Olympic Games as fantastic as the relay has been.”