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Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay


SwissO

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Exactly! Australia, as an island nation and with an ocean/beach culture, the flame lit underwater by the reefs is very symbolic. It means Australia.

Russia OTOH, takes pride in space exploration, and the orbit may be the scene of the 2014 relay, as the swimming leg of the relay was for Sydney 2000. And that moment sort of anticipated Cathy bringing the flame from under the pool of water at Stadium Australia.

The 2000 torch in space really doesn't seem to be part of Sydney's flame narrative, just as the random deep lake will probably be a futile lost episode of this Sochi torch relay. But their orbit walk will be meaningful, as the Russians intend to use the very same torch that went to and came from space to light the cauldron.

i would just like to add that even though london dId not have stunts like these. the doctor still took the flame around cardiff and in the tardis #SAVETHEDAY

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it's totally ridiculous. Except for the North Pole stop, everything that they have attempted to "pioneer" on this relay has already been done before -- except for the number of "burn-outs" that happened within the first week of the relay.. I am curious how many burn-outs there were in the 1st week of the Greek portions.

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The whole torch relay thing has gone totally ridiculous over the years, and as with many other things, Sochi is taking this to new levels of ridicule. Given that this was all invented for the 1936 Games, it may be time to rethink the whole concept and where it came from.

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"The whole torch relay thing has gone totally ridiculous over the years"

Agreed with sochi and Beijing. BUT I may be biased but I think both vancouver and london had great torch relays.

The aim of both was to get the excitement and the spirit of the games going in both countries and they delivered. No big stand out statement events, just visiting lots of the country and delivering a great atmosphere.

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The whole torch relay thing has gone totally ridiculous over the years, and as with many other things, Sochi is taking this to new levels of ridicule. Given that this was all invented for the 1936 Games, it may be time to rethink the whole concept and where it came from.

It was rethought after the Beijing debacle in which they tried to outdo Athens' successful worldwide relay. Both London's and Vancouver's relays were massive successes after that. Some here might find Russia's stunts a bit gauche but that's just Russia doing its thing. Now that the worldwide relays have been ruled out, the torch relay should be of managable size and it really is a great way of energising the whole country. The change made after Beijing was enough imho.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKlcaDwQiIY

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It's not just the size that makes it ridiculous nowadays: First all the drama about igniting the torch in ancient Olympia and then everyone knows that it will be extinguished deliberately or not a couple of times on its way. What's the point really...it's a symbol from the past which seems silly nowadays. To mobilise the whole country, I like ideas like the "squat and get a free ride" one in Moscow's subway leading up to Sochi : Nationwide campaigns to get people moving would fit much better for a sports event. The tirch relay is somehow a martialic act, again not the least because of its origin in 1930s Germany.

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Don't agree here with StefanMUC. The torch relay has become an essential part of the Olympics, no matter what its roots are. First of all, it links the modern games to the ancient ones. Than it gives you that great opportunity for everyone to become part of the games whether they can/want afford tickets or n (at least if it's done right like in London/Vancouver, for 2014 almost every place the torch has visited - including Moscow and St. Petersburg - has looked like a ghost town) and if you'd strech the torch relay out, the cauldron, THE olympic symbol, would totally lose its emotional value.


And the costs for a torch relay à la London 2012 shouldn't be too high, either. Of course, there's no point in sending the torch to space, the Nort Pole and so on. But as it has yet been stated, that's the host countries' vanity and no one forces you to do that.

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at least if it's done right like in London/Vancouver, for 2014 almost every place the torch has visited - including Moscow and St. Petersburg - has looked like a ghost town

Yes, that's struck me as well whenever I've seen clips of it. :mellow:

This aspect of Sochi's relay bothers me far more than their over the top stunts which as far as I'm concerned are just a bit of showing off (which all hosts do to some extent).

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Russian Olympic torchbearer catches fire

Former Olympic bobsledder was parading the torch through a crowd in a Siberian city when his jacket burst into flames.

A Russian torchbearer's jacket caught fire in the latest mishap to befall the Olympic Flame as it continued on an epic journey that has so far taken it to the north pole, into orbit and to the bottom of the world's deepest lake ahead of the Winter Olympics.

Pyotr Makarchuk, former Olympic bobsledder, was parading the torch through a crowd in the Siberian city of Abakan last week when flames suddenly leapt from his left shoulder and upper arm of his jacket, a clip posted on Youtube late on Wednesday showed.

Escorts immediately put out the flames and Makarchuk was not injured, said Roman Osin, a spokesman for the Russian Sochi 2014 torch relay, who witnessed the incident.

The flames were caused by drops of liquid gas that fell on Makarchuk's jacket, he said.

...

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/11/russian-olympic-torchbearer-catches-fire-201311281601316392.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr_JiOfLI4Y

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