I am an Olympic Torchbearer!

Summary

• Visa is global sponsor for the Olympics
• I am an employee of Visa
• I got selected, in an organisation wide competition, to be one of the Olympic Torch bearers for the Milano Cortina games in 2026
• I did the Torch relay in Lecce, Italy. Gunjan and I went there together
• Was an extraordinary event. A profound occasion: where brevity of the moment felt like a lifetime
• Here is a recap video I made about the relay.

It was the summer of 2004. The year of the Olympics in Athens. That year the Olympic torch was to travel to each continent - before reaching Athens. And Delhi happened to be on the list of the places the torch would pass through.

I happened to live right on the route. As a 12 year old, who dreamed of becoming a athlete, I stood in the crowd of clamoring thousands, just to get a glimpse of this timeless symbol of sport.

It was over in seconds: I could see someone, I dont remember who it was, but it was obviously someone famous, carrying the magnificent flame, all alone. The flame and the torch are majestic. The sleek torch and on top the bright, unmistakeable flame passed me by like time often does, an ephemeral moment, but indelible in memory.

It is the winter of 2025. It is 30th December, and in Lecce, like everywhere else, everyone is enjoying their time off and celebrating the holiday season and awaiting the new year.

For me, the new year is really far away. I am going to the relive that moment from the summer of 2004, but this time it is going to me holding the Olympic Torch.

I am getting ready to be the one of the Olympic Torchbearers, for the MIilano Cortina 2026 Olympics. I will be the only person in the world, for a brief period, to be holding the infinite Olympic Flame.

How did this happen?

Visa is a global sponsor for the Olympics. Each Olympics, (at least for the last few ones), they have a few slots for employees to be Torchbearers. A lot of these are reserved for Senior Leadership team, but about 40-50 are left open for all employees.

The selection process is pretty much the same as it is everywhere: Write an application / cover letter / essay / short note on why you should be chosen to have this honor.

So I wrote about the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius - Communiter (Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together) and how I apply this in my daily life, both personal and professional. I want to be better everyday, to always be learning and trying to become an improved version of myself. Visa’s leadership principles are also similar: Leadership, Collaboration, Excellence and doing the right thing for customers - something I try to emulate.

I live my life led by an amalgamation of these principles and ideals. And to have the honor of holding the Olympic Torch, to be one with the universal symbol of such values, is something I would be fit for.

And from all the applications across the organisation - I got selected to be one of the few people to have this unique privilege.

Lecce!

I was allocated the 23rd section of the relay - on 30th December, in Lecce.

To reach Lecce, we had to take a flight to Brindisi and then take a 2 hour cab to Lecce. Lecce is a beautiful town in the South Eastern Part of Italy, also known as Puglia.

Is a historic town, with some ancient Roman ruins still there dating back 2,000 years.

We stayed at a hotel in the centre of the city, so that we could walk to everywhere. Based on my debrief, my location of the Torch relay was about a 20 mins away from the hotel.

So we reached Lecce on 29th and spent the day roaming around the city, and eating great food! It’s Italy, so food is always great, and Puglia region has some specialties like Puccia and Pastiociotto!

The Olympic Torch Relay

Start time for the relay was in the evening around 5 PM. So we spent the day roaming around the city.

In the evening around 4PM - I went to the briefing location - where we were given instructions about the whole process. They also gave us outfits - jacket and pants, and we got ready.

They also gave us the replicas of the Torch, to have a feel for the weight and also instructions on how to hold, pass the flame and other such protocols.

They also told us to involve the specators and bystanders, and to oblige with photos, should people ask for them.

There was also a note from the sponsors about the torch and the momentous occasion that it is.

We also took some photos with the unlit torch.

We were then dropped off in the Official Olympics van to our respective relay start points. Obviously, because the van goes through the city dropping each Torchbearer, crowds recognised the vehicle, and followed it as the van moved through a barricaded, exclusive path for the Torch.

I was dropped off at my designated spot, and was instructed to wait for it. Meanwhile the sponsors, Coke and Eni, passed by with their trucks, with music at full volume, energising the crowds with local and international bangers.

As I was waiting for the flame to come to me, I was taking photos with the bystanders with the unlit Olympic torch. Its just such a powerful symbol, that even without the flame, people wanted to stand next to it, see it, touch it. When you are in the presence of something so great, you feel it, and want to memorialise it. I was just very happy that I was able to be a part of the lives of people who I’ll never meet again, whose name I dont know, but I was there when they were next to the Olympic Torch.

You can see the flame from a long way off. I see my preceding torch bearer is coming towards me, and I am readying myself. I smile at Gunjan, because she is there next to me, smiliing as well, as the moment we had been waiting for had arrived. The torchbearer is now only a few meters away, when one of the Olympic Flame Angels comes towards me and switches on the ignition valve of the torch. This will allow the flame to be passed to me.

She is now next to me. I await with my torch, in my left hand, as is the protocol, and she holding the flame in her right. We tilt our torches towards each other for the “Kiss” and boom my torch is now lit, and I am carrying the flame. What The F!

I pause for a brief eternity, to look at the flame, and then as instructed into the camera crew for an official photograph. And then its just me and the flame. We had been instructed that the few hundred meters that we have, we can choose to walk to maximise the time with the torch.

And I thought, its the Olympic Torch! No way I am walking - So I will run, as much as they will allow me - because you cant go super fast because of crew and other people around you. So I broke into a jog, with the flame in my hand, feeling immortal. A kid who had always dreamed of being an athlete, was holding the Olympic torch, that he once saw 21 years ago. I dont know how long it lasted. Maybe it was a for few minutes, but it could have been a lifetime. Time moved slowly, as I ran on the streets of Lecce, as close to being an Olympian as I could be.

As I approached the next torchbearer, I slowed down, waited for the Angel to start the ignition, and with the torch in my right hand now, “kissed” the other torch to pass the flame on.

And it was done! I then met with Gunjan, gave her big hug and kiss. And the along with some members of the organising team started towards the end point of the relay. The CEO of the Milano Cortina Olympics was going to be the last torch bearer of the day. As he carried the flame to the end point, where a cauldron was waiting to be lit. With spectators, music, and lots of other important people like the Mayor of the city, the cauldron was lit, concluding the Lecce part of the relay.

The flame now would go to “rest” in a lantern in the city and then move to Bari for the next day of the relay.

The only way to end the day was to go have a gelato! So we did!

What a day, what a memory, and what a way to end the year. And no other person I’d do it with: Gunjan!

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