Olympics: Flame lit for Sochi 2014 Winter Games

[dipsydoodle]

The Olympic flame was lit in Ancient Olympia in Greece on Sunday and began its long journey towards the opening ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games which begin on February 7.

>

Dignitaries at the ceremony included the new president of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, as well as the head of the Sochi organising committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko.

"The Olympic flame should be an inspiration for millions of people throughout the world," Bach, who was making his first overseas trip on Olympic duty, told the thousands of spectators.

>

Chernyshenko said "Russians are very proud to accept the most important symbol of the Olympic movement. This is great honour for us."

[dipsydoodle]

1. Moscow in Expectation of Olympic Torch

On Friday, the Olympic torch was taken to the Acropolis of Athens. This Saturday, the torch will cover the last leg, from the Acropolis to the Panathinaikos Stadium in the Greek capital, where the official Olympic Flame Handover Ceremony will take place.

The Senior Counsellor of the Russian Embassy to Athens, Vladimir Maistrenko, said the relay in Greece had proved impeccable, with hundreds of Greeks welcoming the flame all along the route.

There are also five Russian torch-bearers in Greece. The official ceremony of handing over the Olympic flame to the organizers of the Sochi-2014 Olympics is due at the historical stadium of Panathinaikos in Athens tonight. The stadium was the site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

According to the president of the Sochi-2014 Organizing Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, some 90% of Russian residents will be able to reach the route of the Olympic torch relay in Russia in a matter of an hour. The route of the relay crosses 83 territorial entities of the Russian Federation. He added that the torch-bearers will run; use Russian troikas, dog sleds, deer-drawn sleighs, snowmobiles, air-balloons, aircraft and trains as they follow the route. In Russia, the Olympic torch will be taken under water in Lake Baikal, and to the top of Europe’s highest peak, Mount Eblrus, Chernyshenko said. He also pointed out that the torch will, besides, be taken to the North Pole aboard a nuclear-powered icebreaker, while the Sochi Olympic cauldron will be lit by the flame that will prior to this travel in outer space.
According to Chernyshenko, Russia is honoured to receive the Olympic flame that’s been lit in ancient Olympia because the flame is a powerful symbol of peace, unity and humanity.

- See more at: http://eu.greekreporter.com/2013/10/05/moscow-in-expectation-of-olympic-torch/#sthash.JdjXuD39.dpuf