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The Last Stage of the Torch Relay (February 7)
The Olympic flame has come a long way--12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles)--from Olympia, Greece, to Nagano, Japan. When the flame finally entered the Olympic stadium at the end of its trip, the torch was carried by Chris Moon from Great Britain. He held the torch high in his left hand and waved to the crowd with his right, and he ran steadily forward, surrounded by dancing children. But his right hand and right leg were both artificial.Mr. Moon, an activist working to end the use of land mines, lost his limbs to a mine in Mozambique in 1995. He may not have his hand or leg any more, but he still has his fiery spirit; he has not let his handicap get in the way of his important work.
At the stadium entrance, Mr. Moon had received the flame from 12-year-old Rio Nagasaka, school president of Sanbon Yanagi Elementary School in Nagano City. As part of the One School, One Country Program to build friendships between Nagano students and people around the world, Rio and her classmates have been exchanging letters and pictures with children in Bosnia-Herzegovina, site of the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Games. Many children in that country, which has seen years of terrible war, have been injured by land mines too.
After Rio and Mr. Moon ran their legs, the flame was passed to Hiromi Suzuki, a Japanese runner who won the marathon in the World Track and Field Championships held in Athens, Greece last year. Dressed in a bright red costume, Ms. Suzuki headed for the Olympic cauldron at one end of the stadium.
A figure in white appeared at the top of the steps leading to the cauldron. Midori Ito, an Olympic silver-medalist figure skater, stepped out wearing an ancient Japanese costume and took the flame to light the cauldron, which will burn until the Games end on February 22. Even before she won her medal in 1992 at the Albertville Games, Ito was involved with the Olympics: She gave an energetic speech in English to the general assembly of the International Olympic Committee in June 1991, asking them to award this year's Games to the City of Nagano.