The Torch arrives

(Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

The Olympic Torch took a special journey today.

Olympic gold medallist Barbara Ann Scott became the first person ever to bring the torch into the House of Commons.

Scott, who won the gold medal in figure skating in the 1948 Olympics in St. Moritz, beamed as she held the torch aloft. Politicians applauded and cheered the 81-year-old.

Scott said carrying the flame is the "greatest honour anyone could have. It's the symbol of the Olympics."

 "I"m thrilled to be back in Ottawa and in Canada and thank you, thank you."
 
When she first got the phone call about carrying the torch into parliament, Scott said she thought it was a prank.

"I couldn't believe it; I thought it was somebody making fun," she said. "In fact, when John (Furlong) called I thought he can't be for real. And then I found out it was for real, and I"m thrilled."

Gary Lunn, the minister of state for sport, posed for photographs afterward with Scott.

He joked that he was the same height as the diminutive skater, who proudly told the media she was five-foot-two.

The torch will return to its route in Montreal today. It officially returns to the nation's capital on Saturday.