Three Covenanters Cherish Their Olympic 'Moments'

CHICAGO, IL (January 9, 2002) - The Olympic moments abound for Covenanters as a hockey player, a pastor and a teacher have recently been part of various events surrounding the upcoming Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

On Saturday, Krissy Wendell scored two goals for the U.S. women's hockey Olympic team during a 3-1 victory over Canada at Chicago's United Center. It was the first of three games between the U.S. and Canada as the two favorites for the gold medal readied for the Olympic tournament February 8-24.

Wendell, the daughter of Larry and Drenda Wendell of Redeemer Covenant Church in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, scored just 3:44 into Saturday's game on a scramble near the goal. She put the U.S. team ahead for good with a breakaway backhanded shot at the 10:07 mark of the second period. After the win, she received a plaque commemorating her nomination by media representatives as U.S. Player of the Game.

Last Friday, Rick Hampton, pastor of Hope Evangelical Covenant Church in Crystal Lake, Illinois, ran two-tenths of a mile with the Olympic flame in Chicago as part of the U.S. Olympic torch relay. And middle school teacher Amy Berg of Bethlehem Covenant Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, had her Olympic moment two weeks ago in Boston, running her 0.2 mile leg from the Bayside Expo Center as one of 11,500 torchbearers.

The Olympic torch was flown from Athens, Greece (the original Olympic Games site), to the United States. The U.S. relay began in Atlanta on December 4. It will continue through 46 states on a 65-day journey to the U.S. Winter Olympic site in Salt Lake City, Utah, arriving February 8 in time for the start of the Winter Olympics.

One of the torch relay sponsors provided Hampton and Berg with an Olympics warm-up jacket and pants, long sleeve shirt, fleece gloves and a fleece hat. They both were able to keep a commemorative torch that they used for their respective relay legs.

After Hampton finished his part of the relay, he had the privilege of handing off the Olympic flame from his torch to that of 1984 U.S. Olympic gymnast Dianne Durham of Chicago. Durham had been picked to perform in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, but was injured and could not compete.

Hampton ran on Chicago's southeast side as his wife, Marcia, and two of his three children - Scott and Shannon - cheered him on. Scott, a college student at the University of Washington, nominated his father for the honor of running in the Olympic torch relay. Hampton said during a pre-relay meeting that he was awed by the historical significance of running the torch, but that his most treasured memory was knowing that his son loved him so much.

Berg, who practiced running with the torch with husband, Erik, also a teacher in Chatham, was nominated by a student in her class a year ago. "I felt for a teacher to be recognized was really amazing, because I'll be running with people who have accomplished so much in their lives," Berg said. "You never think you're going to get the opportunity to do something like this," she said in an interview with the Cape Cod Chronicle last month.

A native of Auburn, Massachusetts, Berg is a 1998 graduate of Worcester State College. She grew up in Bethlehem Covenant Church where her parents, Paul and Susan Strozina, have been active members. After earning her elementary education degree, she taught in her hometown for half a year before moving to Chatham to teach in the summer of 2000.

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