Steve Nash has had the Olympic experience before -- he was the star of the 2000 Canadian national team in Sydney. That stay was pretty short, but not as short nor as memorable as his experience Friday night.
Nash was one of the five people who carried the Olympic torch through BC Place during the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Games. Nash, one of Canada’s best known athletes, carried the torch for a stretch, passing it off, then joining hockey legend Wayne Gretzky (who else?) to light the cauldron.
On his twitter account, Nash called it, “The most moving experience of my life.”
The timing worked out for Nash -- his Suns and the entire NBA are on the All-Star break, so he had no games. While he would normally have to be in Dallas (which was actually 15 degrees colder than Vancouver Friday) for events, he got special permission from the league to miss Friday for the Olympic experience.
Nash handled the torch as well as he handles the basketball -- no drops and a perfect pass to the next torch bearer.