2014 Winter Olympics torch relay

The 2014 Winter Olympics torch relay was run from October 7, 2013, 123 days prior to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, until February 7, 2014, the day of the opening ceremony at Sochi. In Russia the relay traveled from Moscow to Sochi through 2,900 towns and villages across all 83 federal subjects of Russia by foot, car, train, plane, and troika for over 65,000 km of journey. The event became the longest relay in Winter Olympics history.

The lighting ceremony was held on September 29, 2013, at Olympia, Greece with Greek alpine skier Ioannis Antoniou as the relay originating torchbearer. The first Russian torchbearer was NHL star Alex Ovechkin, who received the torch from Antoniou in Olympia.

The Torches The 2014 Olympic Torches were unveiled on January 14, 2013, in Moscow. The torch is chrome with red detail, a traditional colour of Russian sport. It was designed by a creative team led by Vladimir Pirozhkov and Andrei Vodyanik and weighs nearly , is tall, wide, and deep.

The torches failed on at least forty-four occasions during the relay, a failure rate of about 3 percent compared to the average 5 percent at the previous Olympics, and on one occasion, a nearby guard helped light the fire again with a lighter. The People's Front (a movement created and led by Vladimir Putin) has called for a criminal investigation into the manufacturer of the torches, a rocket/missile factory.

Special relay

On October 20, 2013, the torches reached the North Pole for the first time via the nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy. On November 6, 2013, the torch was flown into space by Soyuz rocket and brought back on November 11. The torch reached Europe's highest mountain, Mount Elbrus, and the depths of Siberia's Lake Baikal.

Route in Greece September 29 (day 1) Olympia, Amaliada, Elis, Pyrgos, Zacharo, Kalo Nero, Tripoli, Levidi, Lefkasi, Kalavryta September 30 (day 2) Patras, Rio, Missolonghi, Agrinio, Karpenisi October 1 (day 3) Lamia, Volos, Larissa, Katerini October 2 (day 4) Thessaloniki, Giannitsa, Naousa, Edessa, Florina, Kastoria October 3 (day 5) Grevena, Ioannina, Kalabaka, Trikala October 4 (day 6) Karditsa, Lamia, Amfissa, Delphi, Arachova, Livadeia, Athens

Route in Russia

RouteMapOctober 7–9 (day 1–3): Moscow October 10 (day 4): Kolomna October 10 (day 4): Odintsovo October 10 (day 4): Arkhangelskoye October 10 (day 4): Krasnogorsk October 10 (day 4): DmitrovOctober 11 (day 5): Torzhok October 11 (day 5): Tver October 12 (day 6): RzhevOctober 12 (day 6): SmolenskOctober 13 (day 7): Yukhnov October 13 (day 7): KalugaOctober 14 (day 8): Yasnaya Polyana October 14 (day 8): Novomoskovsk October 14 (day 8): TulaOctober 15 (day 9): RyazanOctober 16 (day 10): Murom October 16 (day 10): Vladimir October 17 (day 11): SuzdalOctober 17 (day 11): Ivanovo October 18 (day 12): PlyosOctober 18 (day 12): KostromaOctober 19 (day 13): YaroslavlOctober 20 (day 14): VologdaOctober 21 (day 15): Not travelling, staying in VologdaOctober 22 (day 16): Kizhi October 22 (day 16): Petrozavodsk October 23 (day 17): Pryazha October 23 (day 17): OlonetsOctober 24 (day 18): Veliky NovgorodOctober 25 (day 19): Izborsk October 25 (day 19): PskovOctober 26 (day 20): GatchinaOctober 27 (day 21): Saint Petersburg October 28 (day 22): Kronstadt October 28 (day 22): Lomonosov October 28 (day 22): Petergof October 28 (day 22): PushkinOctober 29 (day 23): Svetlogorsk October 29 (day 23): KaliningradOctober 30 (day 24): MurmanskOctober 31 (day 25): Not travelling, staying in MurmanskNovember 1 (day 26): Severodvinsk November 1 (day 26): ArkhangelskNovember 2 (day 27): SyktyvkarNovember 3 (day 28): Naryan-MarNovember 4 (day 29): Novy Urengoy November 4 (day 29): SalekhardNovember 5 (day 30): Nefteyugansk November 6 (day 31): Khanty-MansiyskNovember 7 (day 32): NorilskNovember 8 (day 33): Mirny November 9 (day 34): YakutskNovember 10 (day 35): MagadanNovember 11 (day 36): Not travelling, staying in MagadanNovember 12 (day 37): AnadyrNovember 12 (day 37):Yelizovo November 13 (day 38):Petropavlovsk-KamchatskyNovember 14 (day 39): Yuzhno-SakhalinskNovember 15–16 (day 40–41): VladivostokNovember 17 (day 42): KhabarovskNovember 18 (day 43): BirobidzhanNovember 19 (day 44): Belogorsk November 19 (day 44): BlagoveshchenskNovember 20 (day 45): Not travelling, staying in BlagoveshchenskNovember 21 (day 46): ChitaNovember 22 (day 47): Ulan-UdeNovember 23 (day 48): Listvyanka (Lake Baikal) November 24 (day 49): IrkutskNovember 25 (day 50): Divnogorsk November 26 (day 51): KrasnoyarskNovember 27 (day 52): AbakanNovember 28 (day 53): KyzylNovember 29 (day 54): Kedrovskiy coal mine November 30 (day 55): KemerovoDecember 1 (day 56): TomskDecember 2 (day 57): Gorno-AltayskDecember 3 (day 58): BarnaulDecember 4–5 (day 59–60): Not travelling, staying in Barnaul December 6–7 (day 61–62): Novosibirsk December 8 (day 63): Kuybyshev December 8 (day 63): BarabinskDecember 8 (day 63): Kalachinsk December 9 (day 64): OmskDecember 10 (day 65): Not travelling, staying in OmskDecember 11 (day 66): Tyumen December 12 (day 67): TobolskDecember 13–14 (day 68–69): Yekaterinburg December 13 (day 68): Nizhny Tagil December 15 (day 70): Kamensk-UralskyDecember 15 (day 70): Kurgan December 16 (day 71): ShadrinskDecember 16–17 (day 71–72): Chelyabinsk December 18 (day 73): MagnitogorskDecember 19 (day 74): Not travelling, staying in MagnitogorskDecember 20–21 (day 75–76): UfaDecember 22 (day 77): OrenburgDecember 23 (day 78): Not travelling, staying in OrenburgDecember 24 (day 79): Syzran December 24 (day 79): Tolyatti December 25 (day 80): SamaraDecember 26 (day 81): UlyanovskDecember 27 (day 82): CheboksaryDecember 28 (day 83): Yoshkar-OlaDecember 29 (day 84): Not travelling, staying in Yoshkar-OlaDecember 30 (day 85): Sviyazhsk December 30–31 (day 85–86): KazanJanuary 1 (day 87): Not travelling, staying in KazanJanuary 2 (day 88): IzhevskJanuary 3 (day 89): Kungur January 3–4 (day 89–90): PermJanuary 5 (day 91): KirovJanuary 6 (day 92): Not travelling, staying in KirovJanuary 7–8 (day 93–94): Nizhny NovgorodJanuary 9 (day 95): SaranskJanuary 10 (day 96): PenzaJanuary 11 (day 97): SaratovJanuary 12 (day 98): Tambov January 13 (day 99): MichurinskJanuary 13 (day 99): Lipetsk January 14 (day 100): YeletsJanuary 14 (day 100): OryolJanuary 15 (day 101): BryanskJanuary 16 (day 102): KurskJanuary 17 (day 103): BelgorodJanuary 18 (day 104): VoronezhJanuary 19 (day 105): Uryupinsk January 20 (day 106): VolgogradJanuary 21 (day 107): Novocherkassk January 21 (day 107): Shakhty January 22 (day 108): Rostov-on-DonJanuary 23 (day 109): Pyatigorsk January 24 (day 110): StavropolJanuary 25 (day 111): Elista January 25 (day 111): YashkulskyJanuary 26 (day 112): AstrakhanJanuary 27 (day 113): MakhachkalaJanuary 27 (day 113): CherkesskJanuary 28 (day 114): GroznyJanuary 28 (day 114): Magas January 28 (day 114): NazranJanuary 29 (day 115): Not travelling, staying in NazranJanuary 30 (day 116): VladikavkazJanuary 30 (day 116): Nalchik February 1 (day 118): Mount ElbrusFebruary 2 (day 119): Not travelling, staying in Mount ElbrusFebruary 3 (day 120): MaykopFebruary 4 (day 121): Krasnodar February 5–7 (day 122–124): Sochi

Protests Gay activist Pavel Lebedev (not to be confused with Russian retired figure skater Pavel Lebedev) was arrested at the relay in Voronezh for unveiling a rainbow flag. When interviewed, he said "hosting the games here contradicts the basic principles of the Olympics, which is to cultivate tolerance".

References

External links Official website Coca-Cola torch relay