Posted By SARA ROSS, THE PACKET AND TIMES
Posted 12 hours ago
Orillia's Rick Ball is about to get the chance of a lifetime -- twice.
The 44-year-old single leg amputee will have an opportunity to carry both the Vancouver 2010 Olympic torch and the 2010 Paralympic torch.
"I was talking to my mom last night and I said 'I've got to pinch myself.' I said to her I just can't believe all this is happening; it's crazy," Ball said. "I know it's going to be a very special moment in my life; something I will never forget."
Ball applied and was accepted to be one of the 12,000 RBC torch relay bearers.
He will carry the Olympic
torch 300 metres to Base Borden on Dec. 29, Day 61 of the relay. The relay began on Oct. 30 and ends Feb. 12. Today, the torch is in Baie- Comeau, Québec .
Although honoured to be selected as an Olympic torchbearer, carrying the 2010 Paralympic torch is much closer to Ball's heart.
Ball has used a prosthetic limb since losing his left leg below the knee in a 1986 motorcycle accident on Coldwater Road near Highway 11 in Orillia.
The three-time world record holder for full marathon, half marathon and 10 kilometre races, was asked by the Vancouver Organizing Committee to represent Ontario during the Lighting Ceremony in front of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa on March 3.
The torch will travel through 10 cities before the games begin in Vancouver from March 12 to March 21, 2010.
"It's something special when you think of the people they could of picked from and they ended up picking me," Ball said. "It just makes me extremely honoured."
A single leg amputee, Ball said it is an honour to represent all of those with physical disabilities.
"When I'm running now I feel like I'm breaking ground for other disabled people to show them what's possible," he said. "I'm not just doing it for myself anymore."
Applications to carry the 2010 Paralympic torch are now open to the public. The Vancouver 2010 website says "Ball lives and breathes the International Paralympic Committee motto of Spirit in Motion."
"When I first read that statement, I got goose bumps," said Ball, who hopes to compete in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. "I thought it was quite the compliment."
If given the opportunity to tell his story during the lighting ceremony, Ball knows what he will say.
"I just want to tell the people the same thing I tell the students, to find your passion and follow through with it," Ball said.
"I guess I'm living proof that if you follow your dreams they can come true."
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