University sports star carries Olympic torch
Published on 24 May 12
Student sailor Blaire Hannan has carried the Olympic torch into her home town of Bristol.
Blaire carried the Olympic flame on a one-mile journey from Benjamin Perry’s pontoon at Redcliffe to the Millennium Square in Bristol, finally taking the torch onto the stage where thousands of people were waiting to celebrate its arrival.
A first-year Speech and Language Therapy student here at Manchester, Blaire is a member of the paralympic transitional squad for sailing, and transported the torch on the ‘Aiming High’ wheelchair-accessible powerboat along Bristol Floating Harbour.
One of the University’s Talented Athlete Scholars, Blaire was nominated as a torch bearer by Bristol City Council for achievements in competitive sailing after suffering from a rare neurological and muscular condition called dystonia, which has left her wheelchair bound.
It is also in recognition of her work with Bristol Sailability, a voluntary organisation which enables young disabled people to experience water-based activities, including sailing.
- This Saturday 26 May, GB rower Zak Lee-Green, also a Talented Athlete Scholar at The University of Manchester, will carry the Olympic torch through Cardiff.