The theme for this year's Salt Lake City Olympic torch relay "Light the Fire Within" is also a motto Rebecca N. has always lived by.

Rebecca, a Chico State University senior majoring in liberal studies, hoisted the Olympic torch for about three minutes over a 0.2 mile downhill stretch in Marin County just north of the Golden Gate Bridge Jan. 19. At 8 a.m. that sunny morning, cheering spectators provided the backdrop for Rebecca's torch run. It was a run she described as breathtaking and tear-jerking.

"Time froze for those three minutes," Rebecca said. "It was so amazing. I've cried so many times."

Rebecca's mother, Peggy, nominated her to bear the torch after submitting a 100-word essay about her daughter. Peggy said she always been inspired by Rebecca's success in overcoming hardships.

"She's had it more difficult than other kids her age," Hutsell said. "I nominated Rebecca because watching her overcome has always inspired me."

Born premature at 2 pounds, doctors didn't give Rebecca much of a chance to live. Peggy said when a doctor pronounced above her crib, "I don't know if she's going to make it," Rebecca suddenly shook her tiny fist in the air. Peggy never forgot this and said it has provided a fitting anecdote for Rebecca's life.

"Since birth she's been internally driven to overcome," Peggy said.

The premature birth caused a severe case of asthma as a child for Rebecca--one that, at times, required her to take 17 medications. Rebecca is also legally blind in one eye after complications from a childhood eye surgery. Despite these obstacles, Rebecca has been interested in and competed in sports most of her life. She participated in youth soccer and was a four-year member of the gymnastics team at Yuba City High School where she graduated in 1998.

Rebecca has also kept an interest in the Olympics, and now as a torchbearer she has a tangible memory of the events to call her own. She has long followed Olympic figure-skating competitions, and she viewed part of the Atlanta torch relay in 1996. Despite Peggy's description of her family as more "spectator than competitor," a love for the Olympics persists.

"I used to dream to be on an Olympic podium," Rebecca said. "Now I think I embody the Olympic spirit."

Rebecca has always kept active, and is currently a member of the Chico State Colorguard. In high school she was involved in yearbook, the Spanish club and the school's special-education program. At the same time, she was also an ambassador for the school and took honors classes--all while maintaining a 3.5 GPA.

"I've done what anyone else would've," she said. "I think of myself as a normal person, but I have a desire within me to succeed."

Rebecca's often has a hard time describing what it has means to her to have carried the 3 1/2 pound torch.

"I was thinking, I'm the only one carrying this flame right now, and this is so much bigger than what I am," she said.

Rebecca hopes to graduate from Chico State at the end of this semester and become a teacher. Peggy thinks she'll be successful just as she has been throughout her life because of Rebecca's will and her kind heart.

Peggy relayed the story of an 11-year-old Rebecca teaching a 10-year-old blind girl how to tie her shoes. The youngster had been trying to learn for years, and it took all of 10 minutes for Rebecca to show her. Peggy and the young girl's mother had been watching from a distance and couldn't believe how successful Rebecca had been in teaching her.

"She has a way with kids because of her kind, generous heart," Peggy said.

Note: Article corrected and edited for sake of privacy.

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