Torchbearers Light Up City

By Heather Fletcher, Cahir ODoherty and James Fanelli
The city was aglow all day Saturday, as the Olympic flame, a symbol of the international games, was carried through all five boroughs.City luminaries from Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx were selected as torchbearers to carry the flame through the citys streets. Because the summer games will be held in the birthplace of the Olympics, Athens, Greece, the opening ceremony was dear to residents of Greek descent. Held in Athens Park in Astoria, a neighborhood that has traditionally been a Greek bastion, the ceremony included music to fit the pomp and circumstance, a speech by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and women in white gowns dressed like Greek goddesses.
With the torchbearers running at a steady pace, the Olympic flame then wended its way through the boroughs streets, where throngs of onlookers flooded sidewalks and waved Greek flags. From there, the Olympic flame made its way to Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, the Bronx and finally to Times Square for the days closing ceremony.
After making an appearance in the city, the Olympic flame will eventually travel to Athens, Greece, where the summer games will be held this August.
Below are a few profiles of torchbearers who hail from Queens:
When he was a child, James D. Marcantonatos dreamed of running a track event in the Olympics. On Saturday, the 33-year-old Astoria man ran the Olympic Torch all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge.
"It was a great feeling," he said, "being an American of Greek descent, having the Olympics back home in Greece and at the same time being part of the first global torch relay."
Another dream fulfilled was seeing his brother, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. John Marcantonatos, watch the relay with his family after returning from 14 months of duty in Iraq. The Marcantonatos brothers both serve as members of the New York City Police Department, and James Marcantonatos, a sergeant in Flatbush, also is active in community service and charitable organizations.
"It was a great feeling to have him home to watch me," Marcantonatos said of his brother. "I was worried about him when he was overseas. I think of all the soldiers as heroes and I think that the Olympics is great because for a time, everybody puts aside their differences."
Another torchbearer who has been serving overseas in Iraq is Louie LaTorre, who bore the torch with pride between 70th and 65th Streets on Grand Avenue in Maspeth.
A father of three, he is a National Guard member and a veteran of Desert Storm. He returned to Iraq for a new tour of duty this week.
In civilian life LaTorre works as a sanitation officer and as a volunteer firefighter. His participation in the ceremony was the result of a letter of support written by his mother to the event organizers.
Costas Bizekis may not personally see the Olympic flame return to Greece as he had planned, but the Greek American helped ensure it would get there. On Saturday, the 34-year-old Bayside resident carried the Olympic Torch past the Greek Embassy in Manhattan.
"Even though I wasnt able to get there in Athens, I was able to be part of the Olympics," said Bizekis, whose work as a physician took precedence over the family vacation. "It was definitely something special."
Bizekis, a cardiothoracic surgery fellow at New York University, is scheduled to move Saturday to Pittsburgh to start a year-long fellowship in minimally invasive thoracic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, his wife, Antonia, and 2-month-old son, Stellios, got to see Bizekis carry the torch before she joined her parents, his parents and his sisters in Greece.
"It was a pretty overwhelming experience," Bizekis said of participating in the relay. "You knew that you were doing something very special."
Bob Beamon was born and educated in Jamaica and now lives in Florida with his wife. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, he set the record for the long jump, and 36 years later, it still stands. It is the longest standing record in the Olympic games.
Beamon was the first to carry the flames in the torchbearer ceremony, an honor, he said, that gave him the same kind of high he experienced when he won the Olympic gold in the 1968 Olympic games.
"It was absolutely phenomenal," he said, "it was quite an honor to light and carry the torch."
New York City Firefighter James Efthimiades is not the kind of man to call himself a hero, so his 10-month-old son, Constantine, may have to learn of his fathers accomplishments indirectly. Efthimiades, who was one of the last survivors to be pulled out of the wreckage of the World Trade Center on September 11, spent part of Saturday carrying the Olympic torch through the Manhattan neighborhood that his firehouse serves.
Efthimiades, a 38-year-old Baysider, was encouraged by a firetruck full of cheering coworkers, his family, his wife, Maria, and their son, who may later notice an unexplained torch laying around the house. The firefighter bought the torch he carried on Saturday through the Upper East Side.
Or Constantine may ask about the pictures of Efthimiades running with the flame.
"Im going to say that it was exciting and honorable to carry the torch to represent the Greek Orthodox community," he said, envisioning what he would tell his son. "Its up to him when he looks through the album and sees them."
While Efthimiades may not call attention to himself, torchbearer Bizekis felt honored to pass the flame to Efthimiades.
"To be able to share this with someone like him was nice," Bizekis said.