The Sochi 2014 Olympic Flame has been carried underwater at Lake Baikal, the deepest freshwater lake in the world. As part of a special project of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay, 3 torchbearer divers passed each other the Flame at a depth of 13 meters, marking the first time that the Olympic Flame has gone underwater during this year’s Relay. The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay is presented by the Coca-Cola Company, OSAO "Ingosstrakh" and OAO "Russian Railways".
The day began with a ceremonial greeting of the Olympic Torch Relay team at the "Taltsy" National Museum. Cossacks led by their ataman, as well as theatrical troupes, welcomed the torchbearers who were going to participate in the unique dive. Before departing on its underwater adventure, nine torchbearers carried the Olympic Flame around Taltsy and brought it to the town’s pier, where a boat was waiting with two diver torchbearers.
The special boat then moved along the Angara River in the direction of Lake Baikal, where the Olympic Flame was to be immersed below its surface.
The first torchbearer on Lake Baikal was TV presenter and biologist Ivan Zatevakhin. On the boat, he handed over the Olympic Flame to diver Nicholay Rybachenko, an employee of the Baikal search-and-rescue team of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. Rybachenko then took the lit Torch below the surface of Lake Baikal, where his dive culminated with a "Flame Kiss" at a depth of 13 meters. He then passed the Olympic Flame to Ekaterina Andreeva, a famous TV presenter and permanent newsreader on the program Vermya, who then transferred the Flame, underwater, to torchbearer Aleksandr Vronsky, a senior vice president of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee.
As the last underwater torchbearer, Vronsky raised the Flame to the surface of the lake and transferred it to Mikhail Chuev, who spectacularly rocketed over the lake at a height of 10-meters using a jetpack, which allowed him to bring the Flame directly to the shore. There he handed the Flame to rhythmic gymnast Daria Dmitrieva, the London 2012 Olympic all-around silver medalist.
At the end of the stage, the Olympic torchbearers triumphantly greeted local residents and the governor of the Irkutsk Region, Sergey Eroschenko, in the town of Listvyanka.
The continuous burning of the flame during the dive was possible thanks to a special burner, which was designed and developed in a similar way to flares used for warning signals at sea. The device was lit by the unique Olympic Flame using a special pyrotechnic charge.
For more information on the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay, visit Sochi2014.com, or call +7 495 984 2014.
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