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Sochi Olympic Flame relay to start on Oct 7, 2013

Many interesting projects are being prepared, and the Russian torch will be presented quite soon

MOSCOW, August 13 (Itar-Tass) —— On the day, when the XXX Summer Olympic Games in London ended, President of the organizing committee Sochi-2014 Dmitry Chernyshenko said about the progress of the run-up to the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

In particular, he noted that the Sochi relay of the Olympic Flame will be the longest national Olympic flame relay. “The Olympic Flame relay will include 14,000 torch-carriers, who will go for over 56,000 kilometres through all 83 Russian regions. The Olympic Flame relay will start on October 7, 2013, when the Olympic Flame will arrive in Russia from Athens,” Chernyshenko said in an interview with the Kommersant daily.

Many interesting projects are being prepared, and the Russian torch will be presented quite soon, he said. “This is an innovative product, which was developed particularly for the Olympics in Sochi at the plant in Krasnoyarsk. The summer and winter torches differ strongly, as the winter torch should be protected from the wind and low temperatures,” the head of the organizing committee said.

Many people call the opening ceremony of the London Olympics as “remarkable and incomparable,” but Chernyshenko does not worry and moreover does not go panicking over this fact. “Russia can compete successfully on the market of culture and mass entertainment events,” he believes. Chernyshenko noted that the international creative team headed by Channel One Director General Konstantin Ernst is working on the concept of an opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics. “The stadium, where an opening ceremony of the Olympics will be held, is designed so that it can provide for a technical solution to any creative fantasies. We do not conceal any secrets, let’s wait and see, in the literal sense of the word,” the president of the organizing committee Sochi-2014 pledged.

He also noted that “white elephants” will never come to Sochi. “This phrase is used for the facilities, which had been built for the Olympics, but were abandoned and forgotten after them,” Chernyshenko explained. “The city will also host the Formula-1 race in 2014 and one of the stages of the FIFA World Cup in 2018 will most likely be held in Sochi. I believe that the city will be able to compete with Cannes and Davos in the future, but I am not quite sure about Monaco,” Chernyshenko underlined.

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