With less than one month to go until the start of the Paralympic Winter Games Torch Relay, the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee has revealed some of the names of the torchbearers who will be involved in the 10 day event which starts on 26 February 2014.
Amongst those set to be involved are Paralympic and Olympic champions, Sochi 2014 ambassadors, sports men and labour veterans, representatives of educational, social and cultural spheres, as well as military personnel, heroes of war and labour, and students aged 14 years and over.
This includes Sochi 2014 Ambassadors Natalia Vodianova, Diane Gurtskaya and Sergey Shilov; three-time Olympic synchronized swimming champion Olga Brusnikina, and Paralympic track and field star Fredor Trikolich, a winner of two gold medals at London 2012.
So far Sochi 2014 has approved more than 1,500 candidates selected by authorities of the Russian Federation and those by the Paralympic Torch Relay Presenting Partners – Coca-Cola Company, OSAO “Ingosstrakh”, “Russian Railways” and “VOLKSWAGEN Group Rus”.
Of the torchbearers chosen so far, one in five have an impairment and epitomise the Paralympic values of courage, equality, determination and inspiration.
The youngest torchbearer is 14-year-old Samara Georgy Kuznetsov – a multiple winner and winner of All-Russian competition in Greco-Roman wrestling among people with hearing disabilities. The oldest torchbearer, 88-year-old Vitaly Ivanov – a World War II veteran who was awarded five Orders of the Red Star, two Orders of Glory – will run in Chekhov.
Among the selected torchbearers, are also citizens of Sweden, Great Britain, Spain, Greece, Germany, Estonia and Austria.
The IPC will announce its torchbearers for the relay, which will represent all eight federal districts of Russia, shortly after the closing of the Olympic Games.
The Paralympic Games Torch Relay will be held from 26 February – 7 March and will involve 1,500 torchbearers and 4,000 volunteers. In 10 days, the procession will pass through 46 cities in different regions of Russia, in all the eight federal districts.
For the first time one of the stages of the Paralympic Torch Relay will be held in the British town of Stoke Mandeville in the county of Buckinghamshire – the spiritual birthplace of the Paralympic Movement. On 1 March Stoke Mandeville Stadium will hold a city celebration before the Flame visits several local attractions.
The Relay promises to be the most innovative and unusual in the history of the Paralympic Games. Each day, the Paralympic Flame will be lit simultaneously in several cities of one of the Russian federal districts. The methods of lighting the Flame and its transfer from one region to another will change each time and will be a surprise, as each torch Lighting Ceremony will be unique: from the sun’s rays, from a hammer and anvil, from a Russian stove, and even from a spark of a volcano!
After the Lighting Ceremony in each city there will be a long welcoming celebration for the Paralympic Torch, and on the eighth day of the relay, 5 March, there will be a unique ceremony of “unity” of the Paralympic Flame from all regions in the central square in Sochi.
Dmitry Chernyshenko, the President of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee, said: “For us as organisers, the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games will begin with the start of the Paralympic Torch Relay, so we are preparing for it with a special attention. We tried to make the Relay innovative, really unusual, vivid and memorable. Every day, the flame will visit several regions. Together with the torchbearers of the Paralympic Torch Relay, we will tell millions of people across the country about the Paralympic Movement and its values and heroes.”
The Sochi 2014 Paralympic torch was eveloped by a team of famous Russian designers and engineers. The torch weighs about 1.8 kg and has a length of 95 cm, is blue and has a base that is light “metallic” silver. The concept of the urban Sochi 2014 Paralympic Torch Cauldron resonates with the concept of the torch and is implemented in an identical style. The height and width of the Cauldrons are 130cm and 60cm respectively. The foundation is 110cm. These Cauldrons will be installed in all the cities along the route of the Sochi 2014 Relay.
The relay will conclude at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games at the “Fisht” Olympic Stadium on 7 March, 2014.
All information about the Paralympic Torch Relay, including the selection of torchbearers, will be available on the special Sochi 2014 Paralympic Torch Relay website.
Source: Paralympic.org
