 |
| Passing the Olympic flame to Ioannis Antoniou |
The
Olympic flame destined to light the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics was lit on September 28th in southern Greece. At the Temple of Hera, the birthplace of the
ancient Olympics, an actress garbed as high priestesses invoked Apollo, the
ancient Greek god of the sun, as she lit the Olympic flame using the suns rays (with the assistance of a
parabolic mirror).
The flame was passed off to 18 year old Greek alpine skier Ioannis Antoniou. The first Russian relay runner in this 40,000 mile 123 day odyssey was Alex Ovechkin, of the NHL's Washington Capitals.
 |
| Alex Ovechkin, the first Russian relay Olympic torch bearer |
Carrying the
Olympic torch fulfilled a dream for the 28 year old superstar Capital's
Winger. As Ovechkin said: "This
is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and something I will never
forget." Ovechin's enthusiasm was
evident from his Instagram photo shared via Twitter.
But Ovechkin
had to hurry back from Europe in order to play in the Capital's regular season
opener against the Chicago Black Hawks in three days time. This will not be the only time which
professional obligations and Olympic ambitions will intersect for Ovetchin this
season. Fortunately, the NHL is taking a
fortnight holiday in February 2014 so that NHL players can compete for their
national teams in the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The torch relay will travel through the nine time zones in
the Russian Federation and be carried by 14,000 torch bearers. The Olympic torch will travel from the bottom
of Lake Baikal, Europe's highest mountain Mount Elbrus and will even travel to
the International Space Station to be taken on a space walk by two cosmonauts.
However, it should be noted that cosmonauts Sergei Ryazansky and Oleg Kotov will only carry the torch and not the flame.
 |
| Relay route for the 2014 Olympic torch relay in the Russian Federation |
However, it should be noted that cosmonauts Sergei Ryazansky and Oleg Kotov will only carry the torch and not the flame.
No comments:
Post a Comment