The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Travels West

The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay passed through the Kaliningrad region. 106 torchbearers ran more than 22 kilometers with the Olympic torch. Among the Olympic torchbearers were the winners of the competition organized by the Presenting Partners of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay, the Coca-Cola Company, OSAO "Ingosstrakh" and OAO "Russian Railways".

The most western Russian town was the first town in the air segment of the Relay journey. The torch was transported on a special Aeroflot direct flight from St Petersburg to Kaliningrad.

The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay regional stage started on the Kruzenshtern barque. The legendary tall ship, which has completed several transatlantic and round-the-world expeditions, is inextricably linked to the Olympic Movement. During the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the barque lay off the harbor, near the Russian House. Lending support to our Olympians, the ship's crew team became a unique lucky charm. The ship's captain, Mikhail Novikov, was the first torchbearer to carry the Torch along the ship's deck. He then passed it onto the torchbearers Vladimir Volkogon and Aleksey Panteleyev.

The stage of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay took place within the grounds of the Curonian Spit national park. The athletes Dmitry Lapikov, Angela Titenko and Aleksey Shaidulin ran across sandy dunes and the remarkable "dancing" forest, which has an impressive range of species: curved, twisted and ringed pine trees.

The torchbearers carried the Olympic flame across the streets of the city and the Svetlogorsk Promenade, near the Baltic Sea. The Russian well-loved singer, Oleg Gazmanov, ran the final lap of the Relay town stage.

In Kaliningrad the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay started by the Brandenburg Gate, built in the middle of the 17th century, and then passed through the Royal, Friedland and Sackheim Gates, the Amber Museum and the Pacific Ocean Museum, the Monument "To the Conquerors of the Nearby Universe" and the Cathedral Church. One of the Kiss of Flames was captured on the background of bright Olympic Rings - a special construction installed in the town specially for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay. As it made its away along its route, the Olympic Torch Relay gathered attention from a great number of spectators. The motorcade was followed by more than 100 cyclists, who welcomed the symbol of the Olympic Games to their native town.

The actress Tatyana Arntgolts and the famous sports commentator and torchbearer, Yury Gusev, were given the opportunity to carry the Olympic Torch through their hometown. As the Olympic celebration concluded, the final torchbearer, the Governor of the Kaliningrad region, Nikolay Tsukanov, got up onto the stage on Victory Square. He lit the Cauldron, which the Presenting Partner of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay, OSAO "Ingosstrakh", had given to the town the day before.

During the final celebration, at 20:14, the countdown clock marked 100 days before the Olympic Games in Sochi. With every new day, with every new torchbearer, the Olympic torch is getting closer and closer to Sochi, allowing tens of millions of the country's residents to participate in this unique event and to see the main symbol of the upcoming Olympic Games in real life.

The first real snowy stage of the Olympic Torch Relay will take place on the streets of the polar city of Mumansk. It will be the third time that Murmansk will welcome the Olympic Torch as it was from the Murmansk port that the Olympic Torch delegation set off to the North Pole in the middle of October, returning back to the port a few days later.

For more information contact:The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay

sochi2014.com | media@sochi2014.com | +7 495 984 2014

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