University Daily Kansan
Friday, April 6. 1979
7
Staff photo by BARB KINNEY
Olympic representative
Heidi Wallace, Tonganokia graduate student, stands next to a copy of the symbol for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Wallace will represent Kansas on a 32-member torch
Student will carry Olympic torch
By MARK W. GATES
Staff Reporter
Early next February in Lake Placid, N.Y., the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games will culminate with the arrival of the Olympic torch relay team.
Heidi Wallace, KU graduate student in social welfare, will be a member of that
She was chosen from 6,000 applicants to join the 52-member team. The team represents each state, the village of Lake Placid and the district of Columbia.
This will be the first time a torch relay team has carried the Olympic torch to the United States.
The last Winter Olympics in this country was in 1932 at Lake Placid.
"This is really exciting," Wallace sand. It is something that I really wanted. I'm feeling so excited about it.
She said that she applied to be a member of the team after she saw a small advertisement in Runner magazine last December.
"I DON'T USUALLY read that magazine but I like the cover," she said. "It was after the deadline for entries and I decided to win; it was fun to write to the Olympics."
Wallace sent the required application and essay.
On January 1, she was notified that she was one of five finalists from Kansas.
She was interviewed by David Gershon, director of the Winter Olympics torch relay event.
Last Sunday, she received a call in informing her that she had been selected to be the new chairwoman of the board.
"I was my birthday and April Fool's day," she said. "They were serious though. I didn't expect them to come."
The relay team will follow a 1,300 kilometer course from Yorktown, Va., to the Olympic stadium in Lake Placid.
They will run in four teams of 13 and will trade off carrying the Olympic torch. The torch is made of plastic and weights two pounds.
"THE GAS in the torch lasts about 40 minutes." Wallace said. "We'll switch off the gas when we're finished."
The torch will be flown from Greece to Yorktown, where the team will begin the run on February 1. The runners will arrive in Lake Pacific Fld April 9. They will pass Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York City, as well as historical sites along the way, she said.
The Olympic flame symbolizes the continuity between the ancient and modern games.
The modern version of the flame was adopted in 1936. The torch used to kindle the flame is first lit by the sun's rays at Mount Olympus, Greece. it is then carried to the
site of the games by relays of runners. Stups and planes are used when necessary.
Wallace said, "I'm impressed that they are striving to find and express the Olympic There are 28 men and 26 women on the team. They have the best performance People were not selected simply for athletic ability. They focused on the true Olympic team, from the Greek concept of the whole man."
In the last two weeks of July, she will report to training camp in Lake Pleacet to
She also will be able to train free at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs. And after the opening ceremonies she will be able to attend all the Olympic events free.
Wallace competed and lettered in track
and cross-country her first three years at KU.
"WOMEN'S TRACK at KU started the year before I came," she said. "I was aca-
tually shocked."
She also ran track for two years at her high school in Tonanaxie.
"The women's athletics has been a large part of my development. I've had a lot of fun. Now I run about five or six miles a day."
"They didn't advertise a lot for it. It's all been quite a surprise.
"I'm really not sure why I was picked," she said. "I have broad interests and my degree in journalism and work in social welfare are not highly specialized.
I keep thinking I'm going to the Olympic and I don't have to face the agony of defeat.
Construction back on schedule
Construction work on the satellite union and the Robinson Gymnasium addition is back on schedule now that the weather has stabilized. The director of facilities planning, said this week.
Bad weather stopped work on the $6.7 million Robinson addition and postponed exterior work on the $2.5 million satellite union for several weeks this winter.
He said the structure would be completed sometime this summer and would be open in the spring.
"They're starting into the interior finishing work now," Lawton said.
But Lawton said the weather had not significantly delayed the proposed compromise.
He said work on the Robinson addition was back on schedule and the building would be ready for next year's construction.
"They're back with a full crew," he said. The bricklayers are there and they're sitting on the deck.
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