June 20^th 2004

	Passing The Olympic Flame - In honor of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation among the nations David Ahdoot of the HyperTec Group carries the torch for Canada

Montreal, June 20 2004 - Canada joined a new Olympic tradition as Montreal welcomed the first-ever global Olympic Torch relay. As part of a worldwide journey that will span the five continents represented by the Olympic rings-Europe, Oceania, Asia, Africa and the Americas- Montreal is the only Canadian city to host the Torch relay, which will pass through all of the cities that have hosted the Olympic Summer Games. Montreal hosted the games of the XXI Olympiad in 1976.
Summer 2004 marks a historic moment in the Olympic Games. For the first time since Pierre de Coubertin inaugurated the modern Olympic movement in 1896, the Olympic Games will be held in Athens, Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic movement. The first GLOBAL OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY, an epic voyage that will see the Olympic Torch and its message of friendship, peace and brotherhood carried across five continents. The complete course will take 78 days and will bring the Olympic Flame to 34 cities located in 27 countries on a route covering over 78,000 kilometers, including 1,500 kilometers in the hands of 3,600 relay runners. The Olympic flame will be back to its country of origin as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad get under way on August 13 in Athens.
Montreal is the only Canadian city to host the Global Olympic Torch Relay. "The Olympic Flame is an incredible symbol of unity and cooperation that we are honoured to once again welcome to Montreal, 28 years after the holding of the 1976 Olympic Games in the summer of 1976," Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay said. "The relay will travel through 11 distinct and colorful boroughs that represent the Olympic movement, which was built on the strengths of a multitude of communities."
On June 20, 2004, Montreal, the host city of the 1976 Olympic Games, relived its Olympic glory as a 747 aircraft from New York carrying the flame landed at Pierre Trudeau airport. The Montreal leg of the Relay began at the Olympic Stadium, at the corner of Pie IX and Sherbrooke Street East, and culminated at TOHU, la Cité des arts du cirque, where the passing of the torch was highlighted by a public celebration.
Renowned members of both the public and private sectors in Montreal worked together to plan this historic event. A selected group of 120 past and future Olympic athletes, sports fans and public personalities took turns carrying the Torch along the 60-km course across Montreal. A selection committee working on behalf of the City of Montreal, TOHU and the COC have chosen the runners from a list of outstanding personalities who best exemplified the values promoted by the Olympic Games. Coca-Cola and Samsung Electronics Canada have also launched promotional contests to select the torchbearers for the event.
The choice of Torch Carriers was a difficult and selective process. On June 20th, the final list revealed the names of the chosen few which included celebrities Olympic medalists Bruny Surin, Sylvie Bernier and Marc Gagnon, Father Emmett Johns, founder of the outreach organization "Le Bon Dieu dans la rue", CBC/Radio-Canada President Robert Rabinovitch, McGill Principal and Vice Chancellor Dr Heather Monroe- Blum, HyperTec CEO David Ahdoot, ... amongst others.