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Olympic Flame relay to become most large-scale event of year in Irkutsk

The Olympic Flame will be welcomed at the Irkutsk State Technical University, the house of children’s creative activity and the sport complex Baikal-Arena

IRKUTSK, November 24, 4:13 /ITAR-TASS/. After the historic submersion to the bottom of Baikal Lake, the Olympic Flame torch will be carried along historical, cultural and sports sites of the city of Irkutsk, East Siberia, on Sunday. The Olympic Flame will be welcomed at the Irkutsk State Technical University, the house of children’s creative activity and the sport complex Baikal-Arena.

The Olympic Flame relay will stretch at more than 34 kilometres in the city of Irkutsk in three administrative districts of the city. As many as 227 torch bearers will be carrying the Sochi Olympic Flame. Residents of the Angara river region, who passed the selection for participation in the Olympic Flame relay, silver medallist in rhythmic gymnastics of the London Summer Olympics Darya Dmitriyeva, participant of the London Summer Olympics Olga Kurban and gold winner in shooting at the Deaflympics in Sofia Valeria Kladovnikova will be carrying the Olympic torch.

One of the youngest international masters of sport in alpinism Aleksander Klepikov is among the torch bearers. He has made more than 100 mountain ascents and is the first alpinist who conquered two mountain tops, which are the hardest ones for mountaineering in the world.

The Olympic Flame relay will also run on the premises of the Irkutsk aviation plant, which is a subsidiary of Irkut Corporation, which is the largest Russian aircraft building enterprise. Six torch bearers will carry the Olympic Flame on the territory of the plant, including international master of sports in cycling and participant in the London Summer Olympics Larisa Pankova, participant of the Moscow Summer Olympics in 1980 Aleksander Stasevich and test pilot of the Irkutsk aviation plant Sergei Mikhailyuk.

The Irkutsk stage of the Olympic Flame relay will end in the centre of the city on Kirov Square, where People’s Artist of Russia, pianist Denis Matsuyev and Governor of Irkutsk Region Sergei Yeroshchenko will light the cauldron of the Olympic Flame, which will be put on display at the Irkutsk museum of sports later.

The Olympic Flame relay will break all the records in Russia and will become the most durable and large-scale in the history of the Winter Olympics. As many as 14,000 torch bearers will pass 65,000 kilometres during the Olympic Flame relay for 123 days.