Citius, altius, fortius. Swifter, higher, stronger. The Olympic motto embodies the pursuit of excellence with no thought of reward. Those who have been touched by both the Olympic Games and Rotary International say: Helping others is as rewarding as the thrill of the finish line. Rotarians and Olympians are torchbearers, one and all.

The rower

Alan Forney
Rotary Club of Bellevue Breakfast, Wash., USA

Despite winning a silver medal with the U.S. coxless four rowing team at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, Forney prefers to downplay his athletic achievements. Still, he loves to talk to schoolchildren about his experience at the Games. “My medal shows a little bit of wear because of a lot of the handling it gets,” says Forney, a Seattle-area banker. “To me it’s worth every bit if one kid out of all those kids gets a benefit out of it.”

The organizer

Frank W. King
Rotary Club of Calgary South, Alta., Canada

King, who stood on the podium as chief executive of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, calls Rotary and the Olympics the “two greatest do-it-yourself movements in the world” because of their global reach and volunteering spirit. “It’s the nature of their objective: You define what is right and what is wrong, and the development of the person and the body to its ultimate. … Why would one want to be a Rotarian? Why would anyone want to be an Olympian? The opportunity to do something truly world-class.”

The sprinter

Sir Walter Menzies Campbell
Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar, 1966-67

Sir Menzies, a member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, was one of the world’s swiftest sprinters, finishing the 200-meter run in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and holding the British record for the 100-meter run (10.2 seconds) until 1974. The former leader of the Liberal Democrats credits his Ambassadorial Scholar experience at Stanford University with shaping his political aspirations. “The fellowship changed my life. … I spent a year in the extraordinary, stimulating academic environment, surrounded by all of the tumult that the Vietnam War created. It was a time for growing up.”

The volleyballer

Michael F. O’Hara
Rotary Club of Santa Monica, Calif., USA

O’Hara, who was on the U.S. men’s volleyball team at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, recalls the daunting Eastern Bloc squads, stocked with full-time athletes. “All the communist countries had taken a game we had invented and made it their own. It was like UCLA playing the Lakers,” he says. The U.S. volleyballers didn’t win a medal, but the Olympics still built confidence and friendships, says O’Hara. Since then, this consultant, commentator, and sports impresario has put the zing back into the American game by promoting beach volleyball, now an Olympic crowd favorite.

The hockey player

Kristin King
Scholarship winner, Rotary Club of Piqua, Ohio, USA

King’s hockey career, nurtured on the ice at Dartmouth College, which she attended with the help of her scholarship, includes a bronze medal with the U.S. team in Torino, Italy, in 2006. “There’s the Olympic creed about participating in your sport for the betterment of community,” says King. “That’s the same thing with Rotary International – helping the community, helping families in need.”

The torch carrier

Carl Kruse
Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo Sunrise, , Calif., USA

Keeping the flame lit is a passion for Kruse, who has carried the Olympic torch three times – in 1984, 1996, and 2002. “Even though I had done it before, you never lose that sense of awe and being part of a special moment,” says the serial torch bearer, who has passed along his passion to his daughter, Tisha Voeller, who carried the flame in 2004.

The swimming legend

Duke Kahanamoku
Rotary Club of Honolulu, , Hawaii, USA

The spirit of the late Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku looms large in Hawaii. Regarded as the father of surfing, Duke, who died in 1968, was also one of the world’s best swimmers, winning three gold and two silver medals in three Olympics between 1912 and 1924 (he also played on the USA water polo team in the 1932 Olympics). “Duke is the most famous Hawaiian,” says Bob Sigall, an author, historian and current member of the Rotary Club of Honolulu. “His character, his personality were so positive and kind. He was a very generous person and an ambassador to the islands.”