BLAZE OF GLORY OLYMPIC TORCH TOUCHES LIVES IN SOUTHLAND TRIP.

Byline: Mariel Garza and Holly Edwards Staff Writers

Thousands of Angelenos flooded downtown streets Tuesday to join in the festivities as the Olympic Torch passed through Los Angeles en route to Salt Lake City for the Winter Games.

It was day 41 of the flame's 13,500-mile trip that started in Atlanta and will end with the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Games next month.

More than 260 runners carried the icicle-shape, glass and silver torch for a short two-tenths of a mile as it moved from downtown to Universal City.

Shortly after 8 p.m. at Universal CityWalk, Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson handed the torch to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger who used it to light the Olympic caldron.

``The kind of people that have carried this torch, there are thousands of American people, ordinary people, from firefighters to police officers, military officers, educators, community leaders, people that are handicapped, young people, old people, and of course, the greatest and most spectacular athletes that the world has ever seen,'' Schwarzenegger told cheering spectators.

Earlier in the day, at a noon ceremony on Olvera Street, Mayor James Hahn officially welcomed the Olympic spirit to Los Angeles - twice the site for the Summer Games.

Hahn was also among those who cheered San Fernando High School senior Mayra Torres onto the grounds of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for a ceremonial lighting of the Olympic caldron.

Torres - an 18-year-old Pacoima native appointed by Hahn to be a torch runner- is an honor student being courted by more than a dozen colleges, and a marathon runner who participates in Students Run L.A. - an after-school program designed to help at-risk young people realize their potential.

``The Coliseum is a very historic facility that has hosted two Olympics in 1932 and 1984, and we are so proud Mayra Torres has brought the flame back here,'' Hahn said.

Nearly 1,000 spectators gathered in front of the Coliseum to watch the torch runners pass through. Many waved American flags and shouted ``We love L.A.'' as Torres ran up to the stage and lit the caldron.

For Torres' family, the experience was emotionally overwhelming. Her mother was in tears and her father said he could barely catch his breath as their daughter ran by with the Olympic flame in hand.

``I feel like my heart wants to come out of my chest,'' said Reynaldo Torres, 60. ``We're really proud of her. She's good at everything she does.''

After the ceremony, Torres also appeared overwhelmed.

``When they told me I was a torch runner, I was speechless,'' she said. ``I never thought this kind of honor would be bestowed upon me.''

While many in the crowd were friends and family members of the torch runners, others said they were simply curious.

``I want to see the torch, the actual thing,'' said Leni LeBlanc of Studio City, who took a break from her job as a court reporter at the Federal Courthouse to watch the arrival. ``It's not the same as TV.''

Henry Sanchez, who followed the relay all afternoon through downtown, said he missed it in 1984 and did not want to miss a second one.

``I had to be here. I just had to be here,'' he said.

Torch runners from all over Southern California, nominated for their outstanding inspiration to others, rubbed shoulders with celebrities in an emotional roving street festival.

As the relay passed through different neighborhoods of the city, people stopped whatever they were doing and came out of their offices and homes to cheer the runners on.

``Yahoo!'' yelled Shannon Deck of North Hills as she giddily ran her stretch down Cesar Chavez Avenue, waving at the honking cars. Her family members tried hard to keep pace and take pictures at the same time.

``I'm high on life right now,'' said the 26-year-old after she finished her short journey and passed the flame to Dwight Stones, a former Olympic high jumper.

The runners came in all shapes and sizes and running abilities. Some jogged slowly as spectators kept up. Some, like Leslie Gershman Wandmacher of Sherman Oaks, sprinted.

``My family was all mad I ran so fast,'' she said about the heady run through the industrial section of downtown. Her family and her spinning students at Crunch Fitness in West Hollywood, including the one who nominated her, all turned out.

For Sam Rinaldi of Ventura, the run was doubly special since he passed the flame to his 84-year-old father, Sam E. Rinaldi of Montclair.

It was a bit of a surprise to the 43-year-old father of three that he was picked at all, since no one nominated him. The Olympic Committee was so impressed with the impassioned 100-words-or-less letter he wrote nominating his ``silent hero'' - his father - that they asked whether he also would run.

With family tearfully in attendance, Rinaldi passed the torch to his father on Figueroa Street just in front of St. Vincent's School where the children crowded against a chain-link fence to cheer the runners on.

At the end of the short jog, both men were glowing with happiness and emotion abut the experience.

``It was like the faces of America - construction workers, people in ties, little kids,'' Rinaldi said about the people who turned out to cheer him on.

``Then we got to the school,'' he trailed off, choked with emotion, and held up the torch. ``I just wanted to give a piece of this to them.''

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, above, lights the Olympic caldron Tuesday night at Universal CityWalk. Earlier, Mayra Torres, left, a cross-country runner at San Fernando High, gets a hand from Mayor James Hahn after her run with the Olympic torch. The senior was one of more than 260 runners who carried the torch through L.A. Tuesday.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(3) San Fernando High School senior Mayra Torres runs with the Olympic torch en route to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic caldron.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer