On the 15th of October the world’s largest nuclear icebreaker the 50 Let Pobedy with the Olympic Torch on board headed off on a unique expedition in the Arctic. Within 15 days she is to cover more than 5,000 kilometers from Murmansk to the North Pole and back. The Olympic Flame will be ignited in the heart of the Arctic in frames of the first special project of the Olympic Torch Relay “Sochi 2014”: “The North Pole.” Partners of the Olympic Torch Relay “Sochi 2014” are Coca-Cola, Ingosstrakh Insurance Company and the Russian Railways. The expedition is led by Honored Explorer of the Arctic and Antarctic Artur Chilingarov.
In the Murmansk Sea Port the icebreaker crew was seen off to the music; the ship branded in the style of the Sochi 2014 Relay headed off to conquer the northernmost point of the planet accompanied by tune played by the military orchestra of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet.
During the trip the Olympic Flame will be kept in a special lampion. At the North Pole the Relay will take place on board of the icebreaker and ice floe, and in the geographic point of the North Pole a ceremony of ignition of the Olympic Cauldron Sochi 2014 will be held.
One of the most complex and large-scale, the ecological special-purpose project “The North Pole” has become feasible owing to the Relay’s technical partner, ROSATOM. It is responsible for delivery of the torch, safe deployment of the expedition team on the ice floe, arrangements for the ignition ceremony, as well as catering and medical aid for the Relay team and accompanying workers of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee.
Torchbearers of the North Pole Relay are representatives of Russia and seven other states of the Arctic region – Canada, the USA, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark – which have contributed greatly to the Arctic studies and preservation of its natural resources, fauna and environment.
President of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee Dmitri Chernyshenko said: “The ecological special-purpose project “The North Pole” makes the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay genuinely unique. Thanks to the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee and ROSATOM, the Olympic Flame for the first time will flash in the Arctic. I am confident that the travel of the main symbol of the Olympics will open the fascinating and rarely fragile beauty of the northernmost point of the planet to the world!”
Leader of the expedition Artur Chilingarov noted: “For the first time in the history of mankind the Olympic Flame will visit the place which is called “The Top of the World.” This is the point where the meridians and time zones meet and where the mere notion of time loses its sense. I think it is deeply symbolic to ignite the Olympic Flame exactly at that place, because the Olympic values don’t change with centuries.”
Captain of Rosatomflot’s the 50 Let Pobedy icebreaker Valentin Davydyants emphasized: “Today we head off on the standout trip in the lifetime of our icebreaker, because we have the main symbol of the Olympic on board! I am confident this expedition will become part of the Olympic Movement history and a “calling card” of the Olympic Torch Relay.”