UPEI student first Islander chosen to carry Olympic torch

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=228350&sc=98

UPEI student first Islander chosen to carry Olympic torch

NIGEL ARMSTRONG
The Guardian

Amanda Creamer, 19, of Charlottetown holds a model of the 2010 Winter Olympic torch in front of Province House. She was selected as the first of approximately 250 Islanders needed to carry the flame when it tours through P.E.I. in November. Guardian photo

Amanda Creamer of Charlottetown is the first Islander to be selected to carry the 2010 Olympic torch when it makes its tour of P.E.I. in late November this year.
One of the presenting sponsors of the Olympic torch tour is Coca-Cola and its team was on the Island this week. It is looking for members of the public to sign up for a chance to carry the flame on P.E.I. Nov. 22 and 23 this year.
There is an opportunity for 220-225 Islanders to carry the flame on one of the 400-metre legs. Of that number, the Coca-Cola public program will provide 75-80 Islanders. Others will be selected through a program run by RBC Financial.
One of Coca-Cola’s Olympic torch programs is called Sogo, a joint venture with ParticipAction for young people between the ages of 13 and 19. Sogo is aimed at encouraging young people to be active and members get a chance to be selected as a torchbearer.
“I went on the website, sogoactive, and I put my name in and it was drawn out randomly,” said Creamer, 19, of Charlottetown. “My mother told me about it and I decided to sign myself up.”
Creamer got the call last week saying she was the first Islander selected.
“I was very excited, nervous, all kinds of mixed emotions. I think it’s an amazing program, to give people an opportunity to be involved in the Olympics, which is such an amazing tradition. It is a very humbling and exciting experience.”
She will get a track suit for the time she carries the torch.
“I play softball, since I was four years old, and baseball and I love to bike and skate and all that stuff,” she said in an interview in Charlottetown Tuesday.
“I consider myself a pretty active person.”
The second-year UPEI student is a history major with plans to go into the international education program.