How is the Olympic torch going to reach the North Pole?
The Sochi 2014 Olympic Organizing Committee answered that question Thursday.
In October, the torch will travel 3,100 miles on a “nuclear powered icebreaker” named “50 Years of Victory.”
A “special Olympic Torch Lamp” will accompany the Olympic flame.
Dubbed the longest relay in Winter Olympic history, it will span more than 40,000 miles across 83 Russian regions.Once at the North Pole, the Lighting Ceremony will take place and torchbearers from Russia and countries of the Arctic Council, comprising important people related to the study and conservation of the Arctic, will participate in the Relay. ... The torchbearers will run alongside the icebreaker and across an ice block, after which they will light the Sochi 2014 Olympic Cauldron.
A polar explorer and federal lawmaker named Artur Chilingarov will lead the expedition, according to the Moscow Times.
“Expeditions to the North Pole have been routine practice for Russian ice-breakers for a long time,” he said, adding that the ship “has a very experienced captain who knows how to get there and back.”
The expedition is an opportunity for Russia’s nuclear fleet to flex its muscles, he said.
“We will show the whole world once again that the Arctic is completely accessible to our fleet,” Chilingarov said.
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