Torch Relay -- Flame Arrives in Troubled Volgograd

CNN reports that security was heightened in Volgograd as the Olympic flame arrived by train early Monday morning.

In December, two suicide bombings took place in Volgograd. The terrorist attacks sparked concerns about security for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Russian sprint canoeist Maxim Opalev was the first of 252 torchbearers to carry the flame in Volgograd.

RIA Novosti says Olympic pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayevaand Volgograd governor Sergei Bozhenov concluded Vologograd's leg of the torch relay by "igniting the city fire bowl."

The flame tours two cities on Tuesday, beginning in Novocherkassk. Former footballer Dmitriy Ananko hails fromNovocherkassk.

Next, the torch relay will journey 22 miles north to Shakhty. Sochi 2014 says nine Olympic champions and one Paralympic champion were born in Shakhty.

Legendary Russian weightlifting coach Davyd Riegert will run with the torch in Shakhty.

With less than one month to go, the flame is making its way back into European Russia and, ultimately, Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on February 7.

Written byNicole Bennett

Homepage photo from Sochi 2014

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