Who will be the final torchbearer and the one to light the flame of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics? The identity of the person who will bear that honour is a secret closely guarded by Olympic organizers. Wayne Gretzky has been suggested, but I don’t know…hockey is supposed to be our game in Canada, and certainly Gretzky is a great icon and role model. But it seems almost a cliché to link hockey and the Winter Olympics in Canada. Besides, Gretzky is not from BC, so he doesn’t quite seem the perfect choice.

If it were left to a vote, I would elect alpine skier Nancy Greene. Not only is she a British Columbian (a shoe-in, right?), but she is also an incredible athlete. Her Olympic performances seemed to be inscribed by the Olympic motto—Citius, Altius, Fortius (faster, higher, stronger). She has remained dedicated to her sport and has always embodied what the Olympics are supposed to be about: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” (The Olympic Creed)

Nancy Greene qualified for the 1960 Olympic team only two years after she started racing. She finished 22nd, but she was determined to match her roommate Anne Heggtveit, who won Canada's first Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing. Greene was driven to try harder and to become better. She won several major events in the 1960s, but she was inconsistent and her aggressive skiing resulted in several injuries. She worked at gaining more control and improving her performance. The result was that she dominated her sport in the late 1960s, and won both a gold and a silver at the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble. She won nine straight victories and her second World Cup that year. Greene retired from competition, though not from skiing, when she was only 24, with 17 Canadian championships and a record 13 World Cup titles to her name. She had also been made a member of the Order of Canada and named Canada’s Athlete of the Year twice. She would go on to be declared female athlete of the century, given honorary degrees and appointed to the BC senate (2009).

Despite the wins, the records and all the acclaim, Greene has remained humble, dedicated to promoting her sport and to contributing to the community. The Nancy Greene Ski League, formed in 1968, which Greene still serves, works to introduce youngsters to ski racing. Its longevity is credited to Greene’s own philosophy that “children's competition should promote participation and fun and de-emphasize winning.”

Nancy Greene was the first woman sports icon to enter my consciousness. What touches me most about her is how much she cares. To this day, the woman who is a Canadian sport legend sends hand-written notes to inspire young skiers.