The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games, is an international winter multiple sports event that will be celebrated from February 7 to February 23, 2014. The host city, Sochi, Russia, was elected on July 4, 2007, during the 119th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Guatemala City, Guatemala. This will be Russia's first time hosting the Winter Olympics (the Soviet Union had previously hosted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow). As well, this will become the first Winter Olympics ever held in the subtropics.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Olympic Torch Arrives in Russia

St. Petersburg, April 5 2008 - Dmitry Chernyshenko, President and CEO of Sochi 2014, will today carry the Beijing 2008 Olympic Flame through St Petersburg following its arrival in Russia yesterday morning.

Following the official lighting ceremony at 10am local time, Mr Chernyshenko will join eighty other officially designated Russian torch bearers, including athletes, politicians and public figures, for the Relay. Each bearer will carry the torch 250 metres on its twenty kilometre tour of the city between Victory Square and Palace Square.

Dmitry Chernyshenko said:

“It is a great honour for our nation to welcome the Olympic Torch, and Russia's passion for sports and the Olympic Movement makes this a particularly proud day for us. The Olympic Flame symbolically connects us to the values of the Olympic Movement and will serve to inspire the people of Russia who are already looking forward to welcoming the world to Sochi in 2014".

Large crowds are expected to line the route for the Relay, which takes place less than six years before Russia hosts its first ever Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Having arrived from Istanbul, Turkey, the Torch will move on to London following the St Petersburg leg, which has been organised jointly by the Beijing 2008 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, the Russian Olympic Committee, and the St Petersburg Committee of Physical Culture and Sport.

The Beijing 2008 Torch relay will be carried a total of 130,000 km over 130 days, stopping in sixteen world cities. The Journey will end in Beijing on 8 August 2008, prior to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
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