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Olympic torch begins relay

October 7, 2013

Russian torchbearers have set out on a 123-day epic journey with the Olympic flame ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. The relay will traverse all 83 Russian regions and travel some 65,000 kilometers.

https://p.dw.com/p/19v66
Five-time synchronized swimming Olympic Gold medalist, Anastasia Davydova, carries the Olympic torch in front of the Kremlin Spasskaya (Saviour) Tower just outside the Red Square in Moscow, on October 7, 2013, during a ceremony to kick off the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic torch relay across Russia. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
Image: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images

Olympic torch relay begins in Russia

The torch set off on Monday from Moscow after a ceremony held in Red Square.

As part of the relay, the flame will journey to the North Pole on a nuclear-powered icebreaker, go to the bottom of Siberia's Lake Baikal - the deepest freshwater lake in the world - and climb Europe's highest summit, Mt. Elbrus.

The unlit torch will even be sent to the International Space Station, where two cosmonauts will take it on a spacewalk in November. The last part of the journey to the Black Sea Resort of Sochi will be done by deer sleigh, according to organizers.

The Sochi Games are scheduled to start on February 7.

tj/hc (AFP, AP)