Gretzky was the final Olympic torchbearer at the 2010 Winter Olympics . He was one of four who lit the cauldron at BC Place Stadium during the opening ceremony ( although one did not due to technical difficulties with one of the cauldron 's " arms " which failed to rise ) and then jogged out of the stadium , where he was then driven by police escorts through the streets of downtown Vancouver to light a second , outdoor cauldron near the Vancouver Convention Centre located in the city 's downtown waterfront district . Under IOC rules , the lighting of the Olympic cauldron must be witnessed by those attending the opening ceremony , implying that it must be lit at the location where the ceremony is taking place . Although another IOC rule states that the cauldron should be witnessed outside by the entire residents of the entire host city , this was not possible since the ceremony took place indoors . However , VANOC secretly built a second outdoor cauldron next to the West Building of the Vancouver Convention Centre , and Gretzky was secretly chosen to light this permanent cauldron . Quickly word spread through the downtown Vancouver area that Gretzky was indeed the final torchbearer , and very soon a crush of people came running after the police escort to cheer Gretzky on and hopefully catch a glimpse of him carrying the torch to the outdoor cauldron . For the 2010 Winter Olympics , he was named Special Advisor to the Canada men 's national ice hockey team
opening ceremony
2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
Wayne Gretzky