I love the Olympics. I always have. As a young kid I remember sitting around the TV with my entire family as we watched the fulfillment of dreams and agony of defeat. It was magical. It was or at least seemed to be pure for so many reasons. What struck me was that we were not watching alone – we watched with the world – with people I did not know, from places I’d never been. Unlike any other experience of my youth I saw and believed myself to be as part of a larger, positive world experience. The Olympics built bridges between those distant peoples and me, between foreign countries and my hometown.

As a middle-schooler in 1984, I remember seeing the Olympic Flame pass through my hometown of Guilford, CT as it made its way to Los Angeles. It was other worldly and the crowd that lined the streets waited patiently for a quick glimpse – a moment really – of the Flame as it passed. A symbol for decades, the Flame to me is the essence of effort, of each athlete’s vision and belief and hope for their best.        

When John Furlong, Chair of the Vancouver Olympic Committee, spoke at the opening ceremonies, he captured the essence of what I’ve always believed to be true about the Olympic spirit contained in the Flame, and in reality, the spirit carried by each athlete.

You are role models for our children – heroes, giants, human champions, the best ever. You are living proof that men and women everywhere are capable of doing great good, and that in life as it is in sport, we should always give our best and never, ever give up.

The Olympics, the individual athletes and their stories remind me to dream, to never quit. The Flame that burns brightly in Vancouver tonight brings me back to my childhood and my connection to the largest community; it brings me back to my deepest and best attitudes of perseverance and hope. 

Best, John