Montrealer who lit 1976 Olympic cauldron describes 'awesome' experience

While he was running through Montreal's Olympic Stadium, 73,000 people cheering him on as he moved toward the cauldron, the only thing Stphane Prfontaine desperately wanted was to not mess up.

Then he and Sandra Henderson, his running partner, got to the cauldron, went to light it nothing.

"We got really nervous for a couple of seconds. We didn't know what was going on," he said.

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They waited therewith thousands of eyes on themfor what felt like eternity.

"And then the whole thing lit, people cheered,it was overwhelming," he said.

A surprise honour

Prfontaine first fell in love with track while attending a summer sports camp in Maine as an 8-year-old boy.

At the end of the camp, they held a mini-Olympics and he cleaned up.

By the time he was 15-years-old, Prfontaine wasa sprinter specializing in the 200 and 400 metres and dreaming of competing in the Olympics.

One day his track team, based out of Collge Brbeuf, received a visit from Olympic organizerslooking for torch relay participants. Prfontaine was selected and paired up with Henderson, a runner from Toronto.

• From the archives: 1976 Montreal Olympics

"The organizers were looking for youth because they wanted to show Canada was a young, forward-looking country," he said.

The pair practised running side by side around a track but were never told what role they would have in the ceremonies.All they knew was that they would possibly be in the stadium, or part of another event on Mount Royal.

They stayed in a hotel the night before the ceremony. The morning of July 17, 1976, Prfontaine was woken up at 5 a.m. andbrought to the stadium where he and Henderson had their first and only rehearsal of the route they would run to the cauldron.

An amazing moment

Later that afternoon, they took their positions outside the stadium and waited for the torch runners to arrive.

"There were so many people outside the stadium. They knew something was happening but they didn't know what," he said.

They ran with the torch through a huge garage door and into the stadium. As they ran, spectators slowly started to notice their arrival, creating a wave of cheers that followed them until they hit the track.

"Everyone could see us and there was an explosion of sound. It was very impressive," he said.

Lighting the cauldron at the 1976 Montreal Olympics

8 years ago

Duration 1:29

Sandra Henderson and Stphane Prfontaine were teenagers (16 and 15, respectively) when they were chosen to light the Olympic cauldron at the 1976 Olympics.

They were trying to stay stone-faced and focused, but were slowed down by excited athletes steppingonto the track to take pictures.

Once the delay at lighting thecauldron was over, Prfontainefelt all the stress and pressure evaporate and tried to take everything in.

"That whole moment was very emotional," he said.

After their official jobs were done, the two runnerswere given passes to anyeventthey wanted to see.

Prfontainewent to as many athleticevents as he could. He also met thenprime minister Pierre Trudeau and attended a gymnastics event with him. He waschauffeured to the Montreal Forum in a private limousine.

Now the president of an independent investment advisory firm, Prfontaine retired from running due to an injury when he was still a teenager.

So while his dream of running in the Games never panned out, he still holds a special place in Olympic history.

"It was awesome," he said.

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