“It is meant to bestow honor on the people of New York,” said Ahmad Corbitt, a spokesman for the Olympic committee.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani received the torch around 8:30pm (0130 GMT) on its final leg to the Rockefeller Center, after the flame crossed Staten Island, then passed over to Brooklyn prior to its arrival in Manhattan.
Giuliani was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year Sunday for his quick thinking and leadership in the aftermath of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.
“It’s a great honour to be the final carrier of the Olympic Torch in New York City,” the mayor said.
Among friends and relatives of victims of the attacks to carry the torch was Lyzbeth Glick, whose husband Jeremy died on United Airlines Flight 93, and fire officers’ captain Richard Parenty, who lost 15 men from his team in the collapse of the World Trade Center twin towers.
Another torchbearer was Jessica Trant, whose father worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, the brokerage firm that lost more than 600 staff in the attacks.
A series of relays during the next six weeks is scheduled to get the flame to Salt Lake City on Feb 7, the day before the Winter Games get underway.—AFP