"Phew! How shameful, if it doesn’t light up... And, what if my legs fail me on the way...? This is how the publication "Bellvitge Informatiu" described what was going through Montserrat Fernández's mind as she carried the Olympic torch on behalf of Bellvitge Hospital.
There were quite a few professionals from the HUB, who volunteered for the Barcelona'92 Olympic Games, such a rewarding experience.
Thirty years later, Montserrat Fernández is still an administrative assistant at Bellvitge Hospital. In 1992, she was appointed Olympic torchbearer.
That 17 June, at 16:59, this HUB employee was at kilometre 105 of the C-146 road, from Vic to La Seu d'Urgell. She was ready to carry the Olympia sacred fire, which had arrived a few days earlier in Empúries, for 500 metres. That same flame had had to travel 6,000 km before the lighting of the cauldron in Barcelona's Olympic Stadium on 24 July.
At the magical time of the torch relay, Montserrat, dressed in a brown T-shirt, handed it to journalist Joan Barril, who was then working for the newspaper El País. "Carrying the torch is the dream of many, but only few of us have accomplished it. Something like this happens just once in a lifetime", explained the HUB worker.
Olympic health workers
The then "Bellvitge Health and University City" had an important representation at the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Barcelona'92. Up to 65 health, management and service colleagues from Bellvitge Hospital collaborated as Olympic volunteers to make the organisation of the Games a success.
L'Hospitalet, as a sub-Olympic site along with Viladecans for the baseball competitions, used the city's health facilities to support Barcelona's Olympic hospital. Among these facilities was the HUB, located just behind the Feixa Llarga Sports Complex, which was built for the big Olympic event and is now home to CE L'Hospitalet.