NEW YORK- Crowds cheered across New York's five boroughs Saturday as the Olympic torch made a 34-mile journey through the city, which was recently named as one of five finalists to host the 2012 Summer Games.

Gold-medal gymnast Nadia Comaneci carried the Olympic torch along the last leg, arriving in Times Square.

"Outsized crowds and overflowing hearts - that's what New York is all about," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Comaneci glided across the square suspended from a cable and was lowered onto a platform where she lit the flame.

Gold-medal-winning long jumper Bob Beamon began the torch's tour, following a ceremony at a park in Queens earlier Saturday. Beamon held the Olympic flame aloft as hundreds of spectators in the nation's most heavily Greek-American neighborhood cheered wildly, waving Greek flags.