Torchbearer takes protests in stride

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Apr 10, 2008 | by Angela Woodall

OAKLAND -- Despite scores of angry protesters, intense security and the cancellation of the closing ceremony, carrying the Olympic torch Wednesday in San Francisco was one of the proudest moments in Jessica Lorenz's life.

"I kept thinking, 'No one is going to take this torch from me,'" said Lorenz, 29, of Berkeley, the sole Paralympic athlete to carry the flame in North America.

"I held on so tight and I am so proud," said Lorenz, a blind member of the U.S. women's goal ball team, which won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The team will compete in August in Beijing.

"Silver was great. But quite frankly I would like to come back with a medal of a different color," Lorenz said. "That color would be gold."

The Olympic flame symbolizes freedom and friends -- a tradition that has been passed on through many Olympic games, she said.

"We proved the Olympic flame and spirit can be alive and people can express their freedom of speech."

Lorenz said Mayor Gavin Newsom stressed from the beginning that the city would have an "evolving game plan" to deal with the anticipated protests again China's policies in Tibet.

San Francisco is the only North American leg of the relay that touches down around the world.

Lorenz said the goal in San Francisco was to have a successful relay, keep the flame lit and make sure no one was hurt.

Lorenz said her only disappointment was her family and fiance couldn't see her running with the torch along Van Ness Avenue, near California Street. The athlete declined to give her opinion about Tibet, but added that she was honored to be a U.S. citizen because activists' ability to protest was not suppressed.

"It was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had," she said.

Read Angela Woodall's Night Owl column Fridays in Metro and visit the blog at http://www.ibabuzz.com/nightowl.>

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