Long road to Sochi 2014: 130 million may witness Winter Olympic torch relay

Around 90 per cent of the Russian population will have a chance to see the Olympic flame with their own eyes as the organizers revealed the route of the Sochi 2014 torch relay.

“The most important thing is that we’re giving everybody an opportunity to feel proud for their country and to be involved and inspired by the interest from all around the world when Sochi will be showcasing the face of the new, modern Russia,” Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of Sochi 2014’s organizing committee, told RT.The relay is scheduled to kick start on October 7 next year. The Olympic flame will be lit in Greece, according to tradition, and transferred to Moscow afterwards. The torch will then travel across Russia for 123 days, covering over 65.000 miles to visit 2.900 town and villages.   This makes it the longest torch relay in the history of the Olympic movement. Not only will big cities like St. Petersburg and Kazan be part of the route, but exotic places like the Avachinsky volcanoes in Kamchatka or Curonian Spit on the Baltic Sea as well. Cars, planes, Russian troikas and even reindeer will be used as transport for the Olympic flame.The relay will see 14.000 torchbearers and 30.000 volunteers participating.The opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games will be held on February 7, 2014.