Barbara Ann Scott carries the Olympic torch into the House of Commons on Thursday afternoon. (CBC)

The Olympic torch arrived in the House of Commons on Thursday afternoon, held high by Canadian figure-skating legend Barbara Ann Scott.

The Ottawa native was just 19 in 1948 when she became the first Canadian figure skater to win a gold medal, at the St. Moritz Olympics in Switzerland.

Parliamentarians stood and welcomed her with a roar of applause and cheering as she entered with the flaming torch.

Scott, now 81, said she couldn't believe it when she first heard she was asked to be an Olympic torch bearer.

"I thought it was somebody making fun," she said in an interview afterward outside the House of Commons. "And then I found out it was for real and I'm thrilled. What an honour."

She said all athletes would die to have that opportunity.

Scott was the first North American to win all three major skating championships — the European, the worlds and the Olympics. Her talent and beauty charmed Canadians across the country.

In 1964, the host of CBC Television's Observer called her "sheer perfection on skates" and said the world was "half admiring and half appalled" by the determination and grit shown by the "unsophisticated little girl."

To this day, she is still the only Canadian woman to win Olympic gold in singles figure skating

Former figure skating coach and commentator P.J. Kwong said Thursday that Scott "embodies everything that is the Olympic spirit."

The Olympic torch run officially was to arrive in the national capital region on Saturday. However, an early side trip to Parliament was scheduled during the torch's Montreal leg because the House of Commons was expected to break for the Christmas recess Thursday or Friday.

The Olympic flame's cross-country route, at 45,000 kilometres, was planned to be the longest domestic torch relay in Games history. The relay has been marred by demonstrations along the way and revelations about its steep cost.

With files from The Canadian Press