PHOTO: Andrew Wiggins carries torch at Pan Am Games' opening ceremonies
The 2015 Pan Am Games kicked off with a symbolic moment between Canadian basketball royalty and the poster boy for the sport's present and future.
The event's opening ceremonies were held at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on Friday. A brilliant display put on by Cirque du Soleil performers, which included past Pan Am athletes, led into an impressive introduction of the Games' torch, presented by the gold medal-winning relay team from the 1996 Olympics, including former "fastest man in the world" Donovan Bailey, who base-jumped from the CN Tower and descended from the stadium's ceiling with flame in hand.
The torch was then passed to budding Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Andrew Wiggins by his mother, Marita Payne-Wiggins, a silver-medalist in the 1984 Olympic relay race.
Andrew Wiggins accepts the flame from his Mom, former sprinter Marita Payne-Wiggins pic.twitter.com/SK7FpIFDB4
— The Cauldron (@TheCauldron) July 11, 2015
The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year jogged up through the crowd and passed the torch to two-time league MVP and recent retiree Steve Nash. The 41-year-old former Olympian (2000) then transported the flame to its final stage, the cauldron.
The moment shared between Nash and Wiggins served as a touching past-meets-present celebration, with the former being the elder statesman in Canadian basketball history (he is also the general manager of the Senior Men's National Team) and the latter being the face of the future for a nation that produced the inventor of the sport.
The men's side of Pan Am basketball competition commences on July 21. Although Wiggins will not play for Team Canada in the Pan Am Games, he previously stated that he plans to participate in the FIBA Americas tournament later this summer.