The Sochi 2014 Olympic torch relay officially began in Moscow on Monday, commencing a record-breaking odyssey through Russia and beyond.
Here’s how the Olympic flame will go from Moscow to Sochi for the lighting of the cauldron at the opening ceremony Feb. 7, by the numbers:
123 -- days
40,000+ -- miles (Olympic Winter Games torch relay record)
15,817 -- miles by airplane
12,597 -- miles by car
11,016 -- miles by train
1,402 -- miles by helicopter
.6 -- miles by deer
14,000+ -- torchbearers
83 -- regions of Russia
The torch relay will visit the North Pole (from Oct. 30 stop in Murmansk), outer space (International Space Station, blast off Nov. 7), the bottom of the world’s largest freshwater lake (November) and the top of Europe’s highest mountain (February).
Here are photos from the flame’s trip through Moscow:
Two-time Olympic track champion Svetlana Masterkova. (AP)
AP
Seven-time Olympic gymnastics medalist Svetlana Khorkina. (Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
Five-time Olympic bobsledder and IOC member Prince Albert II of Monaco carries the torch. (Reuters)
REUTERS
(AP)
AP
Vladimir Zeldin, 98, a Russian theatre and cinema actor holds his torch during a relay in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Oct. 7, 2013. The relay for the Sochi Winter Games, which began Monday in Moscow, will pass through many cities that showcase the historical, cultural and ethnic richness of Russia. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
AP
Russian president Vladimir Putin lights a torch in a Red Square ceremony Sunday.
AFP/Getty Images
Retired finswimmer Shavarsh Karapetyan sees the flame extinguish and finds a man with a cigarette lighter to reignite it Sunday. (Reuters)
Reuters
