Olympic torch passes to B.C.

VICTORIA, B.C. — With the stunning Baroque parliament building as backdrop, a jubilant crowd flecked with maple-leaf red cheered Friday as a man and woman held aloft the Olympic flame in downtown Victoria.

The pair were athletes — triathlete Simon Whitfield and speedskater Catriona Le May Doan, both gold-medal winners — and they kicked off an epic torch relay across Canada and a 106-day countdown to the Feb. 12 Opening Ceremony in Vancouver.

Men in suits and children in official Olympic hats pressed against fences along Victoria's Inner Harbor, watching as the torch passed from hand to hand. The swell of Canadian pride could be seen in the tiny maple-leaf flags and heard in the whoops and applause as smiling runners sped past.

"I am ecstatic that my daughter got to see this," said Sidney Thompson, holding 4-year-old Lindsey high over his head. "Think about all the effort that went into it, and it's a fine, proud day to say, 'I'm a Canadian.' "

But the torch also galvanized organized protests and individual anxieties, like those of retired postal clerk Joan Dziadyk, who waited for the torch near the Victoria suburb of Esquimalt. She said she would cheer on the Canadian hockey team, but compared the Games to a new car that was more than taxpayers could afford.

The Games — to be held in Vancouver and Whistler — will cost at least $6 billion (Canadian), counting the infrastructure, which includes a straighter highway between the host cities.

"I think it's a great thing, but I'm sorry it's costing so much at this time," said Dziadyk, clutching a Canadian flag under her umbrella. "We're going to be paying for this for a long time, so people better enjoy it."

Behind schedule

The flame was late to its own party. It flew in to Victoria on Friday morning from Greece on a plane with Olympic officials and government leaders. Slowed by headwinds and a delay in Greece, the flame, kept in four small lanterns, touched down on the gray, wet tarmac one hour late.

After leaving Victoria this morning, the torch will dart like an overcaffeinated figure skater on a nearly 28,000-mile dance across Canada's vast terrain.

Next month, it will spend a few minutes in Alert, Nunavut, its five hearty permanent residents just 500 miles from the North Pole. It will ride in an Inuit kayak, on a bearskin dogsled, snow machine, float plane and in the hand of country-music star Shania Twain in her hometown of Timmins, Ontario.

In all, about 12,000 Canadians will carry the flame in a relay of 300-meter legs. Each will get to keep the 37-inch, 3-pound torch they carried, including Christy Aiken, a 19-year-old nursing student from Port Alberni who got a spot on the relay team by winning an essay contest sponsored by Coca-Cola.

"Today, she's thinking, 'I hope I don't drop the torch, and I have a lot of homework to make up,' " her father, Charles Aiken, said as he waited for her to run past.

Despite the money involved, "There's going to be a lot of good for this country and province coming out of this. Plus we'll be on the worldwide map, and people will know about Vancouver and British Columbia."

'Zombie' march

Victoria and the Olympic organizers prepared for protests on Friday — hundreds of police lined the route — and protesters did not disappoint. A strong anti-Olympic group, No2010, has sprung up in Vancouver, and a group on Facebook is organizing people to drop their pants and moon the torch as it passes.

On Friday, a raucous and colorful group of about 400 staged a Halloween-themed "zombie" march that bottled up rush-hour traffic in Victoria's tourist district.

Speakers objected to the massive spending while B.C. continues to struggle with homelessness and drug addiction. Government officials were blasted for siding with Olympic corporate sponsors in an issue about Olympic-themed advertising.

"It's just a colossal waste of money," Tamara Herman, 34, of Victoria. "This is billions in spending at a time when there's huge cutbacks to social services and schools. Homelessness is rising. Now is not the time to spend billions on a party."

Mike Vaillancourt, 29, is inclined to agree. He skipped work to protest along the torch relay route with a sign protesting Olympic spending. But he admits he is anticipating the hockey, and likes the torch design, a white, twisted tube he said looks like a marijuana joint.

"You see it like that, and the torch is something we can get behind," said Vaillancourt.

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com