Gahanna motivational speaker and Suburban News Publications columnist Rosemarie Rossetti has been selected as one of nearly 70 Central Ohioans 'who will carry the Olympic. torch through the area in early January.

Rossetti was nominated by Ken Smith, who in 1998 worked for the city of Columbus. Rossetti, a training consultant, was scheduled to provide teambuilding training to employees of the city's water division, whose training section Smith then managed. In June, Rossetti became the victim of a freak bicycle accident. A tree fell on her, partially paralyzing her.

But the nightmare anniversary weekend in Granville has turned into something of a crossroads for Rossetti. It's led her along a path that now fmds her speaking frequently about battling the adversity that sudden and inexplicable injury brought.

Back at the crossroads, though, was Smith. Rossetti said she called him to cancel the training.

"He said, 'I'll wait for you; we can postpone.' I was stunned that he would wait. We waited until November," she said.

Upon learning of Rossetti's selection to carry the Olympic torch, Smith said he couldn't think of anyone better who should carry the torch.

"She really has an Olympic heart," Smith said.

Rossetti said besides teaching herself to walk again after the 1998 accident, she didn't know if she could get on stage and deliver the types of training and speeches she'd built her career on. She watched videos of other motivational speakers in wheelchairs, which helped her transform her natural pacing into purposeful rolls of one or both wheelchair wheels.

She enlisted the support of Ruth Conone, with whom she split Smith's training presentation in half. Rossetti said she wasn't even sure she could do her half, but she did.

Smith and the group presented Rossetti with red roses at the end of the three days of training. The roses now are part of Rossetti's company logo.

"I felt very humble on both accounts, with the visual presence of the flowers as a symbol of love and the realization that I had come back in major proportions," she said.

Rossetti recently was nominated to compete in the Ms. Wheelchair AmericaOhio pageant Feb. 23 at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield. The pageant seeks to draw attention to women of achievement who use wheelchairs to educate the public about disabilities and to act as their advocates, according to a pageant press release. Steve Ricker of the Adaptive Adventure Sports Coalition nominated Rossetti.

"When I told my mom I was in the pageant, she asked if I would do wheelies during the talent portion of the contest," Rossetti said. "I was more concerned there might be a swimsuit competition."