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	Five-time Olympic gold medalist Bonnie Blair Cruikshank lights a torch outside the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee during an event that capped the flame's trip through Wisconsin on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2002, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Karen Sherlock)

Olympic spirit burns brightly in Wisconsin 

Bonnie Blair Cruikshank has won five Olympic gold medals in speed skating. Blair lit the Olympic cauldron set up at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee.  That marked the end of the Wisconsin part of the 2002 Olympic Torch Relay.

Bonnie Blair Cruikshank has skated thousands of laps around the 400-meter oval at the Pettit National Ice Center. However, the two laps she skated January 5th were special. 

Blair was chosen to finish the Wisconsin leg of the 2002 Olympic Torch Relay.  She carried the torch as she skated two slow laps, cheered on by a crowd of thousands.  Then she went outside and lighted the Olympic cauldron.  The cauldron was set up on a stage in the Pettit Center parking lot.

“That was way cool,” Blair said.  “When I was racing, I never heard the crowd.  However, I heard you tonight.  You guys are an awesome crowd.”

Torch travels across the U.S.

The Wisconsin leg of the torch relay was Day 31 of a 65-day journey across the U.S.  The journey will take the Olympic flame to Salt Lake City for the Winter Games in February.  Along the way, the torch will travel more than 13,500 miles through 46 states.  It will be carried by 11,500 torchbearers.

In Wisconsin, 132 torchbearers carried the flame.  Each person carried it about two-tenths of a mile. The Olympic Organizing Committee chose the torchbearers. Many of the torchbearers were chosen because they overcame personal challenges.

Biggest crowd at Pettit

“This is by far the best-attended event we’ve ever had,” said Pettit Center President Spiro Giotis.  He estimated the crowd at 8,000 to 12,000 people.

Cheryl Cagle was not surprised by the turnout.  As torchbearer manager, she follows the flame relay.  The sun’s rays in Olympia, Greece, ignited the flame on November 19.  The flame arrived in the U.S. on December 4.

“I think this nation is longing for something to celebrate, and the Olympic flame is a good symbol to rally around,” Cagle said.

The torch passed through Kenosha, Mount Pleasant and Racine on its way to Milwaukee’s Pettit Center.

The flame will also travel by car, airplane, train, ship, dogsled, skier, horse-drawn sleigh and snowmobile. It will arrive February 8 in Salt Lake City for the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Gary D’Amato