| Host City: | Sochi, Russia |
| Countries Visited: | Greece, Russia |
| Distance: | 65,000 km |
| Torch Bearers: | ~15,000 |
| Start Date: | 7 October 2013 |
| End Date: | 7 February 2014 |
| Torch Development: | Krasnoyarsk Aero Fabric and Variant-999 |
The 2014 Winter Olympics torch relay was run from October 7, 2013, 123 days prior to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, until February 7, 2014, the day of the opening ceremony at Sochi. In Russia the relay traveled from Moscow to Sochi through 2,900 towns and villages across all 83 federal subjects of Russia by foot, car, train, plane, and troika for over 65,000 km of journey.[1] The event became the longest relay in Winter Olympics history.[2]
The lighting ceremony was held on September 29, 2013, at Olympia, Greece with Greek alpine skier Ioannis Antoniou as the relay originating torchbearer.[3] The first Russian torchbearer was NHL star Alex Ovechkin, who received the torch from Antoniou in Olympia.[4]
The 2014 Olympic Torches were unveiled on January 14, 2013, in Moscow. The torch is chrome with red detail, a traditional colour of Russian sport. It was designed by a creative team led by Vladimir Pirozhkov and Andrei Vodyanik and weighs nearly 1.8kg (04lb), is 0.95m (03.12feet) tall, 0.145m (00.476feet) wide, and 0.54m (01.77feet) deep.[5]
The torches failed on at least forty-four occasions during the relay,[6] a failure rate of about 3 percent compared to the average 5 percent at the previous Olympics,[7] and on one occasion, a nearby guard helped light the fire again with a lighter.[8] The People's Front (a movement created and led by Vladimir Putin) has called for a criminal investigation into the manufacturer of the torches, a rocket/missile factory.[9]
On October 20, 2013, the torches reached the North Pole for first time via a nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy.[10] On November 6, 2013, the torch was flown into space by Soyuz rocket and brought back on November 11. The torch reached Europe's highest mountain, Mount Elbrus, and the depths of Siberia's Lake Baikal.[11]
September 29 (day 1)
September 30 (day 2)
October 1 (day 3)
October 2 (day 4)
October 3 (day 5)
October 4 (day 6)
| Route | Map | |
|---|---|---|
| October 7–9 (day 1–3): Moscow October 10 (day 4): Kolomna October 10 (day 4): Odintsovo October 10 (day 4): Arkhangelskoye October 10 (day 4): Krasnogorsk October 10 (day 4): Dmitrov | ||
| October 11 (day 5): Torzhok October 11 (day 5): Tver October 12 (day 6): Rzhev | ||
| October 12 (day 6): Smolensk | ||
| October 13 (day 7): Yukhnov October 13 (day 7): Kaluga | ||
| October 14 (day 8): Yasnaya Polyana October 14 (day 8): Novomoskovsk October 14 (day 8): Tula | ||
| October 15 (day 9): Ryazan | ||
| October 16 (day 10): Murom October 16 (day 10): Vladimir October 17 (day 11): Suzdal | ||
| October 17 (day 11): Ivanovo October 18 (day 12): Plyos | ||
| October 18 (day 12): Kostroma | ||
| October 19 (day 13): Yaroslavl | ||
| October 20 (day 14): Vologda | ||
| October 21 (day 15): Not travelling, staying in Vologda | ||
| October 22 (day 16): Kizhi October 22 (day 16): Petrozavodsk October 23 (day 17): Pryazha October 23 (day 17): Olonets | ||
| October 24 (day 18): Veliky Novgorod | ||
| October 25 (day 19): Izborsk October 25 (day 19): Pskov | ||
| October 26 (day 20): Gatchina | ||
| October 27 (day 21): Saint Petersburg October 28 (day 22): Kronstadt October 28 (day 22): Lomonosov October 28 (day 22): Petergof October 28 (day 22): Pushkin | ||
| October 29 (day 23): Svetlogorsk October 29 (day 23): Kaliningrad | ||
| October 30 (day 24): Murmansk | ||
| October 31 (day 25): Not travelling, staying in Murmansk | ||
| November 1 (day 26): Severodvinsk November 1 (day 26): Arkhangelsk | ||
| November 2 (day 27): Syktyvkar | ||
| November 3 (day 28): Naryan-Mar | ||
| November 4 (day 29): Novy Urengoy November 4 (day 29): Salekhard | ||
| November 5 (day 30): Nefteyugansk November 6 (day 31): Khanty-Mansiysk | ||
| November 7 (day 32): Norilsk | ||
| November 8 (day 33): Mirny November 9 (day 34): Yakutsk | ||
| November 10 (day 35): Magadan | ||
| November 11 (day 36): Not travelling, staying in Magadan | ||
| November 12 (day 37): Anadyr | ||
| November 12 (day 37):Yelizovo November 13 (day 38):Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky | ||
| November 14 (day 39): Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk | ||
| November 15–16 (day 40–41): Vladivostok | ||
| November 17 (day 42): Khabarovsk | ||
| November 18 (day 43): Birobidzhan | ||
| November 19 (day 44): Belogorsk November 19 (day 44): Blagoveshchensk | ||
| November 20 (day 45): Not travelling, staying in Blagoveshchensk | ||
| November 21 (day 46): Chita | ||
| November 22 (day 47): Ulan-Ude | ||
| November 23 (day 48): Listvyanka (Lake Baikal) November 24 (day 49): Irkutsk | ||
| November 25 (day 50): Divnogorsk November 26 (day 51): Krasnoyarsk | ||
| November 27 (day 52): Abakan | ||
| November 28 (day 53): Kyzyl | ||
| November 29 (day 54): Kedrovskiy coal mine November 30 (day 55): Kemerovo | ||
| December 1 (day 56): Tomsk | ||
| December 2 (day 57): Gorno-Altaysk | ||
| December 3 (day 58): Barnaul | ||
| December 4–5 (day 59–60): Not travelling, staying in Barnaul | ||
| December 6–7 (day 61–62): Novosibirsk December 8 (day 63): Kuybyshev December 8 (day 63): Barabinsk | ||
| December 8 (day 63): Kalachinsk December 9 (day 64): Omsk | ||
| December 10 (day 65): Not travelling, staying in Omsk | ||
| December 11 (day 66): Tyumen December 12 (day 67): Tobolsk | ||
| December 13–14 (day 68–69): Yekaterinburg December 13 (day 68): Nizhny Tagil December 15 (day 70): Kamensk-Uralsky | ||
| December 15 (day 70): Kurgan December 16 (day 71): Shadrinsk | ||
| December 16–17 (day 71–72): Chelyabinsk December 18 (day 73): Magnitogorsk | ||
| December 19 (day 74): Not travelling, staying in Magnitogorsk | ||
| December 20–21 (day 75–76): Ufa | ||
| December 22 (day 77): Orenburg | ||
| December 23 (day 78): Not travelling, staying in Orenburg | ||
| December 24 (day 79): Syzran December 24 (day 79): Tolyatti December 25 (day 80): Samara | ||
| December 26 (day 81): Ulyanovsk | ||
| December 27 (day 82): Cheboksary | ||
| December 28 (day 83): Yoshkar-Ola | ||
| December 29 (day 84): Not travelling, staying in Yoshkar-Ola | ||
| December 30 (day 85): Sviyazhsk December 30–31 (day 85–86): Kazan | ||
| January 1 (day 87): Not travelling, staying in Kazan | ||
| January 2 (day 88): Izhevsk | ||
| January 3 (day 89): Kungur January 3–4 (day 89–90): Perm | ||
| January 5 (day 91): Kirov | ||
| January 6 (day 92): Not travelling, staying in Kirov | ||
| January 7–8 (day 93–94): Nizhny Novgorod | ||
| January 9 (day 95): Saransk | ||
| January 10 (day 96): Penza | ||
| January 11 (day 97): Saratov | ||
| January 12 (day 98): Tambov January 13 (day 99): Michurinsk | ||
| January 13 (day 99): Lipetsk January 14 (day 100): Yelets | ||
| January 14 (day 100): Oryol | ||
| January 15 (day 101): Bryansk | ||
| January 16 (day 102): Kursk | ||
| January 17 (day 103): Belgorod | ||
| January 18 (day 104): Voronezh | ||
| January 19 (day 105): Uryupinsk January 20 (day 106): Volgograd | ||
| January 21 (day 107): Novocherkassk January 21 (day 107): Shakhty January 22 (day 108): Rostov-on-Don | ||
| January 23 (day 109): Pyatigorsk January 24 (day 110): Stavropol | ||
| January 25 (day 111): Elista January 25 (day 111): Yashkulsky | ||
| January 26 (day 112): Astrakhan | ||
| January 27 (day 113): Makhachkala | ||
| January 27 (day 113): Cherkessk | ||
| January 28 (day 114): Grozny | ||
| January 28 (day 114): Magas January 28 (day 114): Nazran | ||
| January 29 (day 115): Not travelling, staying in Nazran | ||
| January 30 (day 116): Vladikavkaz | ||
| January 30 (day 116): Nalchik February 1 (day 118): Mount Elbrus | ||
| February 2 (day 119): Not travelling, staying in Mount Elbrus | ||
| February 3 (day 120): Maykop | ||
| February 4 (day 121): Krasnodar February 5–7 (day 122–124): Sochi | ||
Gay activist Pavel Lebedev (not to be confused with a Russian retired figure skater Pavel Lebedev) was arrested at the relay in Voronezh for unveiling a rainbow flag. When interviewed he said "hosting the games here contradicts the basic principles of the Olympics, which is to cultivate tolerance".[12]