There is very little time left, and we all cling to the TV screens in anticipation of adrenaline, victories and medals: the Olympics in Sochi will start, the second Russian game in modern history. We do not yet know exactly what surprises the organizers prepared for the opening ceremony of the main winter launch of the four-year anniversary, but everyone knows that one of the most intriguing and touching moments will be the lighting of the Olympic flame in the bowl of the main stadium. According to tradition, it burns throughout the Olympics. Of course, this is its main symbol.
Not just a lamp
On the one hand, for each country, this torch becomes an occasion to show their creativity, to declare to the world about themselves, to demonstrate their achievements in different fields. On the other hand, it helps to unite the nation with a common idea, emphasize the special role of certain settlements of the state and provide trust to outstanding citizens. After all, the meeting of the Olympic flame in the city (especially a small one) is an important event for all its inhabitants.
Start
According to tradition, the relay race begins the procession in the homeland of the games, in the village of Olympia. It is interesting that in our high-tech age, the rays of the sun give life to fire. One of the 11 Greek women, dressed in the clothes of priestesses, “catches” them with the help of a special mirror, having read a prayer to Apollo. Then the torch begins its long journey. The first Russian to take the baton of the Sochi Olympics was the truly legendary hockey player, who in the West is called "Alexander the Great" - Alexander Ovechkin. And he did it with great pride, despite all the titles that he had by that time.
Incident in Moscow
A week later, the Olympic flame met in Moscow. Unfortunately, it was overshadowed by the fact that the torch went out in the hands of an outstanding submariner, 60-year-old Shavarsh Karapetyan, who in his youth accomplished a feat by pulling about 20 people from a sunken bus. Journalists did not fail to write clouds of stinging comments about the incident (some claimed that it was not the only one).
Creative ideas
The organizers of the Games in different countries often come up with something new. Relay participants not only ran, but also traveled on skis, boats, horses, snowmobiles and deers, flew on airplanes and helicopters and landed on parachutes. The fire itself once crossed the ocean (a laser beam was used). It would seem that what else could be invented? However, the Russians succeeded.
The meeting of the Olympic flame at the North Pole turned out to be amazingly beautiful . The fire was delivered there by an atomic icebreaker, polar explorers from the countries of the Arctic Council became torchbearers . The polar night was lit by Greek fire and a stunning laser show.
An unusual meeting of the Olympic flame took place on Lake Baikal. It was marked not only by Buryat dances and medieval reconstructions, but also by the descent of a torch to the bottom of the famous "glorious sea" - with the help of divers and rescuers. But that is not all! The scenario of the Olympic flame meeting provided for an unusual “exit” of the main symbol of the Games from the lake. He literally rushed to the shore on the wings of a "man-bird", raised from the surface of the reservoir with the help of water jets of a special device "slide jet". A native of Irkutsk, the beauty "artist" Daria Dmitrieva, took fire into her own hands.
The torch traveled into outer space, and will soon conquer Elbrus. For more than two months now he has been traveling across the territory of the sixth part of the land. The Olympic flame meeting ceremony was developed by each locality independently. In the Krasnogorsk region near Moscow, a torch drove a wakeboarder along the Moscow River and lowered a snowboarder from a snowy mountain. In Kaluga, the grandson of Tsiolkovsky was the torchbearer, and the group "Earthlings" sang at the ceremony. In Pavlovsk, a relay race that arrived in a retro train was greeted by heroes of the 19th century. And in Orel, the fire “swept” in bobsleigh sleigh.
Is something waiting for us at the opening ceremony of the Games?