Sochi 2014 Olympic Flame took to the skies

The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay began its two-day trip around the Perm region. On its 89th day, the 5.62 km long route passed through the historic city of Kungur. Kungur became 100th Russian city visited by the Sochi 2014 Olympic flame.  25 torchbearers, including the nominees of the Sochi 2014 Relay Presenting Partners, attended the Olympic procession: Coca-Cola, OSAO “Ingosstrakh” and OAO “Russian Railways.”

Early in the morning the brand train number 701 of the Sochi 2014 Relay, which had already traveled about 10 000 km around Russia, arrived at the Perm railway station.

The old merchant city Kungur, unlike other towns of the Urals, originated as a result of the development of the merchant craft, and not because of the construction of industrial plants. In the XIX century, Kungur became famous throughout Russia as the tea capital, as the merchants sold 80 % of the country’s tea here.

The MI-8 helicopter, decorated by the Sochi 2014 Relay symbols, landed in the middle of the “Trud” stadium in Kungur. The Fire keepers came out with the lantern, accompanied by the Governor of the Perm region Victor Basargin, during this this time a bright ice show unfolded on the stadium – young figure skaters greeted the Olympic Flame with a dance, it was visiting the small town of the Kama region for the first time.

After the Flame landed, Svetlana Vysokova, the Olympic bronze medalist in speed skating lit her Torch.   She made a circle around the stadium, skating, later passing the Torch Relay to Anastasia Chirtsova, a member of the Russian national team in freestyle, who also skated on the stadium’s ice arena.

On the Sochi 2014 Relay city route, the architectural heritage of Kungurwas demonstrated in an unusual way. Girls from the fashion theater came out to meet the torchbearers wearing the costumes form the “Temples of Kungur” thematic collection and unusual dome-shaped hats.

The torchbearer Tatiana Ivshina, Honored Master of Sports in Wushu, winner of the first World Martial Arts Games, passed the Olympic flame in the background of the original monument “The Center of the universe.” The granite monument in the shape of a hemisphere is mounted at the confluence of seven roads:

five vehicular and pedestrian ways, as well as two water ways. Not far from the unusual monument, the torchbearers could hear humorous folk rhymes sung with the accordion playing- this is how the local creative teams welcomed the Olympic Torch Relay.

The alternative means of transportation, the hot-air balloon, was a vivid and spectacular decoration of the Olympic Torch Relay not only of the city stage in Kungur, but of the entire route. At the end of the day the Olympic procession got to the Cathedral Square, where 4 balloons were prepared for the special occasion of the large scale Sochi 2014 Relay celebration. Two of them were made especially for the Relay; they were decorated with the brand symbols of an orange patchwork quilt, which is part of the Sochi 2014 Look of the Games. This is the type of hot-air balloon the torchbearer Nicholas Kadantsev climbed while holding the Olympic Torch. He shone the light of the Olympic Flame in the Kungur sky when four hot-Air balloons took off the ground simultaneously. Due to the weather conditions, quite strong winds and frosty air, they could not fly high, but nevertheless the magnitude of the spectacle attracted a lot of spectators to the central square.

Vladimir Malikh, many times world and European champion among veterans, a marathon athlete, favorite of the Kungur residents, traveled the final meters of the race holding the Olympic flame and then lit the Cauldron.

The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay will start in Perm the next

via Sochi 2014 Olympics.