Then in that one moment in time
I will feel, I will feel eternity
--"One Moment in Time" Whitney Houston

Unfortnately, I would not be allowed to forget the Olympics so easily. Aside from all the noise that was being made about Salt Lake Officials being bought off, Howie D. wound up with 10,000 email votes electing him to carry the Olympic Torch. So like any other good Backstreet Boys fan, I called my DJ friend George and told him about it on the air and we joked about what you would do with the Olympic flame (light your barbeque was what we ultimately came up with). Well the very next day I found out I was also in the running to carry the Olympic flame. Apparently someone had really liked the story my mom had told them. This didn't surprise me because my mom is a very good writer and can probably BS her way out of a murder trial. She doesn't remember what she told them nor can she find it anywhere because it was one of those online fill out forms. So as I was reading through the twelve pages of text, I didn't quite believe it. It had to be a prank. Then I read the confidentiality agreement. Great! Now I couldn't tell the world like I wanted to! It didn't help that I have friends in the media. They said everything would go public on September 12, 2001. So I counted down the days.

Then something tragic happened. I had forgotten about the announcement, at least pushed it back in my mind so I didn't think about it every day of the next two weeks. But then, on September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC were attacked with planes! This was obviously some terrorist act. Planes just don't go flying into buildings for no reasons. My first thoughts were "This is a movie. This is a dream. I'm going to wake up now. I want to wake up now." Then I thought of the Backstreet Boys and their wives. I found out that one of their crew members was on one of the planes and that Leighanne Littrell was supposed to be. Then I thought about the Torch Relay. I was supposed to find out on that Wednesday if I was actually going to run. So I checked the website. They said that the Torch Relay would continue but that security would be heightened (duh!). They also said that we would have to wait a month before it would be announced to the press who the relay runners would be. So yet again, I waited.

Then my mom called me one day to say "You're going to carry the Olympic Torch!" I didn't believe her and she sent out the link of where to find my name. It was a public website. No password. No encryptions. Nothing. Right there plain as day. My name. Also listed: Backstreet Boy Howard Dorough, Magic Johnson, Michelle Kwan, Venus and Serena Williams, Lance Armstrong, and Carl Lewis. But there it was: MY NAME! So the first thing I did the next day was call George. I told him all about it and then he wanted me to call back and gave me the phone number for the station (as if I needed it). So I called and he said that Dori wanted to do a news blurb about me (she's the news person). So she called me about half an hour later and I told her what I knew so far and I got my own news blurb! I filled out the questionaire about myself with everything from my name and birthdate to who I would want to have dinner with if I could. I was half expecting to be asked "If you were stranded on a desert island..." After that, I forgot about the relay again.

Then it became December. Everyone around me who knew about the Relay (work, my parents, my friends) started asking if I knew when I was running. I hadn't heard a word yet. This began to scare me. I decided that as of Monday, January 7, 2002, if I hadn't heard anything I would email them and find out what was going on. Well, that night I couldn't sleep. I got off work close to one in the morning (I work as a closer at Burger King) and I couldn't sleep. Believe me, I tried but I just couldn't. I was on the phone with George at 6:45am talking about my favorite subject: the Backstreet Boys. After that, I had some time to kill before my paycheck was ready so I went to Walmart. After I picked up my paycheck at 8:30am I went out to my mom's to get more money so my rent check wouldn't bounce. I had every intention of when I got home of going to bed being I was practically falling asleep on the road. But when I got there I found a huge FedEx box. One of the "large" ones. I knew it had to be the uniform for the relay. Well it was. It also contained a video tape (basically saying what I was supposed to do) and my exact location (down to the street sign!).

So I am travelling northbound on Bridgeway Blvd. I start at the "Speed Limit 35 mph" sign near Nevada St. and I end at Harbor Dr. My relay technically starts at 8:22am on Saturday, January 19, 2002, but I have to be at the police station on Locust St at 6:34am. Why you ask? Because they "turn a 3 minute run into an Olympic event" (their words, not mine). Real reason why? I think they need to train me. The torch is 33 inches long and weighs 3 and a half pounds. I am only 60 inches tall. So the torch is half my height!

Now I bet you're wondering why Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys is on this page in an Olympic Torch Relay uniform. Because on Tuesday, January 15, he carried the flame in Los Angeles. Howie Dorough carried it back on Friday, December 7 in Orlando, Florida. The reasons they carried the flame: Tax write-offs called charitable organizations. Howie carried in honor of his sister, Caroline, who died of Lupus in September of 1998 and because of which he started the Dorough Lupus Foundation. Kevin carried because of his newly founded charity Just Within Reach. It's an environmental foundation. I also found out that Lance Bass of *NSYNC also carried the Olympic Torch. To me, this is extremely cool. Granted all three of these celebrities carried it because of their non-profit organization affiliations, but okay. I mean, two Backstreet Boys and my favorite member of *NSYNC also carried the Flame. That is just nice to know.

To tell you the truth, I was excited, but not to the point of screaming about this. That is, until I saw Kevin in the uniform. The same uniform I have hanging in my closet. Then I found pictures of Howie (because people neglected to send them to me). Now I'm beside myself. I'll be doing something that only 11,500 people get to do. That's as many people as attend a Backstreet Boys concert. I'm one of them, along with TWO of the Backstreet Boys. I'll finally have something to talk to them about that doesn't involve how great they are!

I left with Mary Friday afternoon after a radio remote in the morning to say goodbye to Intern Andy of Star 96.7FM. We drove to our hotel in San Bruno and reached there around four in the afternoon. We checked in and were upgraded from a one bedroom suite to a two bedroom suite. After a quick nap, we headed into Sausalito to try and find the location of the police department where I was supposed to check in. We found it and with traffic, it took about forty-five minutes. We then continued down Bridgeway and found the street sign that I started from. So then we headed back to the hotel. After a quick stop at the biggest Target we have ever been in (it was two stories) and dinner at Burger King we went to bed watching the news. I finally fell asleep around midnight.

The next morning, we awoke to KRYStAL's "Supergirl!" because the hotel had CD players as alarm clocks. I was up right after the first few notes of the song. It was five in the morning. We got dressed, me getting into my official uniform. After we checked out, we headed into Sausalito for the final time. We arrived at the police station early and that's where I met the person who would be handing me the Flame, John. He was an average guy who's friend had just nominated him because he was the only person she could think of. We went back to our cars and waited. After a bit my mom showed up. Then the relay people showed up and I checked in. We then waited again for the police station to open. After a bit we were ushered inside and I was given my number, 031. We met our drivers and received our final instructions. Everyone's story was moving. There was a three-time Olympian in our midsts who was nominated by none other than Lance Armstrong. There was a Para-Olympian from Redding who was legally blind. I passed the Flame to him. We did some pictures together and before I knew it, the transport was there and we were saying goodbye to our families whom we would see again on route.

The twelve of us got on the bus and headed towards the park. It was there that we realized that Flame was being driven across the Golden Gate Bridge and that we were the first ones to carry it after that. At the park, there maybe a hundred people all yelling for us. It was very inspiring. As we sat in the bus, we talked about our experiences, listened to the music and watched the highlights of the past weeks of the journey of the Flame. Things seemed to slow down once we started rolling. Mary and I had driven the route the night before and I was only about a mile from the starting point and it seemed to take forever. When it was finally my turn, I took my torch and held it. It was top heavy like they said, but not excessively so.

I climbed off the bus and there was my mom and Ray and Mary. The motorcycle cop turned on my gas and we waited for John. After the media van passed, I stepped off the curb and prepared to receive the Flame. It took us a bit, but once it was lit, I looked up at it and in that moment felt the weight of the world. For the next three minutes I was the only person in the world with that Flame. Time seemed to freeze as I jogged. Nothing went through my head. All the fears I had had on the bus disappeared. About half way down my route there were some people who had come out to see the Flame pass by and there was this one boy who was waving with both arms. He seemed to be disabled, maybe Downs Syndrome, I couldn't tell. I waved at him. The only thought that went through my head the entire time was "Just make it to the stop light." That was near the end when my arm started to feel the position of the torch. I passed the Flame off to the man from Redding and my gas was turned off. I then waited for the transport van. I handed them my torch, told them I wasn't keeping it and that I was staying on the route. I then hugged Mary.

The rest of my family was at the end of the route waiting for me. I got hugs all around and I didn't cry until I was on my way home with my mom. We stayed around and talked for a while there on the street corner. Some of the local folks were asking me questions and congratulating me.

**Photos**
Howie Carrying the Olympic Torch -- December 7, 2001
Howie on NBC -- December 7, 2001 (Pictures from Piano Paula)
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Kevin Passing the Olympic Torch -- January 15, 2002
Kevin Being Interviewed After His Segment on the Olympic Torch Relay -- January 15, 2002
Kevin on E! Entertainment Television -- January 15, 2002
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Lance Bass (of *NSYNC) Carrying the Olympic Torch -- January 15, 2002
Me Carrying the Olympic Torch -- January 19, 2002
One of my Favorites of me Carrying the Olympic Torch
Me Getting off the Bus
Me Carrying the Olympic Torch
Me Waiting for the Olympic Flame
Torchbearer John Passing me the Olympic Flame

**Lyrics**
Offical Theme Song of the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Torch Relay
Carry the Flame -- Aretha Franklin
The Power of the Dream -- Celine Dion, Atlanta Summer Olympics 1996
Reach -- Golria Estefan, Atlanta Summer Olympics 1996
One Moment in Time -- Whitney Houston, Seoul Summer Olympics 1988

In the background you hear the Olympic Theme in Midi format

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