JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — David Able and Olga Ogoussan have both faced physical obstacles, but what their bodies have suffered seems to have been credited to their spirit.
The Salt Lake 2002 Olympic torch relay is full of tales that tug the heart strings, and no stories are perhaps more touching then these two. Both carried the Olympic flame in Columbia, S.C., Thursday amid much fanfare.
They were given the honor because they inspired those around them — a theme Olympic organizers developed for the relay.
Able has lived his entire life in a wheelchair. He has no specific medical condition, and doctors simply call him a "genetic anomaly."
He was born with no arms and no real legs — only two crippled feet that extend from his stump of a body. And even though the 22-year-old is no more than a yard long, his smile is always wide.
Thursday, Able was cheered as he ably carried the Olympic torch in his motorized wheelchair.
"I was going nuts," Able said of his 0.2-mile journey with the flame. "I guess the spirit of the Olympics just overwhelmed me when I received the torch."
It was a divine moment. Truly a miracle, said Russell Anderson, Able's pastor and the man who nominated him as a torchbearer.
When Able was born doctors told his parents, Danny and C-Anne, that their son would only live a few hours. Then it was a few days, weeks, a month and now 22 years later, David is a torchbearer.
"David can do anything," Anderson said.
Relay staff fastened the torch to Able's wheelchair, which was steered by a support crew using remote control.
While no one could beat Able's inspiration, Ogoussan matched it as she carried the flame and lit a caldron in downtown Columbia.
Her run brought the town to its feet.
Ogoussan is a physician from West Africa temporarily studying in Columbia. Her home is Benin, West Africa. Her country is poor.
Since Benin's doctors lack the technology needed to cure many illnesses, the healers there must focus their efforts on disease prevention.
But even prevention in Benin isn't great, and Ogoussan was frustrated. She decided she needed more public health education to help Benin's sick.
She won a grant to pursue a master's degree in health education at the University of South Carolina and, after much soul searching, made the tough decision to leave her country three weeks after giving birth to her son, Adoebayo.
Less than a month after arriving, however, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"I was very discouraged," she said. "I told myself I was trying to do the best for my country. How can this happen to me?"
But the community rallied around her. The city raised money to have her infant son and husband, Kisito, brought to Columbia to live with her as she traveled the road to recovery — a road she completed recently.
After carrying the flame into Columbia's downtown torch relay celebration, Ogoussan had revitalized hope.
"More than ever, I think I can make a difference in my country," she said.
The inspiring relay continued its 65-day, 13,500 mile journey today, en route to Salt Lake City. Thursday night the flame boarded a Coast Guard cutter in Charleston, S.C., bound for Jacksonville, Fla. where it was given a ceremonious arrival. It will reach Orlando tonight after trekking through St. Augustine and Daytona Beach.
E-MAIL: bsnyder@desnews.com