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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014 SPORTS Olympic flame reaches Sochi after world’s longest relay MOSCOW: The Olympic flame mountain, plunged into the world’s and other celebrities, and drawing IN VOLATILE PLACES reached Sochi yesterday, following deepest lake and was even taken big crowds across Russia. In recent weeks, the relay went a 65,000-kilometer (39,000-mile) into space by Russian cosmonauts. But it also has seen some spec- through Chechnya and other route, the longest in the history of The torchbearers included a 101- tacular gaffes, with the flame flick- provinces in the restive North the games. year-old man. ering out on dozens of occasions Caucasus, which have been During the journey, the torch The relay generated genuine and, in some cases, even engulfing engulfed by an Islamist insurgency relay reached the North Pole, went public enthusiasm, featuring the bearers. A look at some of the that issued threats to the Olympics. to the top of Europe’s highest famous cultural figures, athletes memorable moments of the Sochi No incidents occurred during the Torch Relay: relay. RECORD-SETTING JOURNEY OLDEST TORCHBEARER It started in Moscow on Oct. 7 In December, 101-year-old table and stopped at more than 130 cities tennis referee Alexander Kaptarenko and towns across Russia. For most ran with the flame in Novosibirsk, of the route, the flame traveled by becoming the oldest Olympic torch- plane, train, car and even reindeer bearer in history. He trained for his sleigh, but about 14,000 torchbear- 200-meter run by jogging with a ers took part in the relay. frozen salmon in his hand. SOCHI: Workers wash the windows of the Bolshoy Ice Dome, one of two hock- ey rinks in Olympic Park, in preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics. —AP NORTH POLE STOP FLAMEOUT The torch reached the North The torch relay has been marred Pole in October aboard a nuclear- by repeated cases of the flame flick- For migrant workers, powered icebreaker. The ceremony ering out. The first such incident involved torch bearers from eight occurred at the very start of the Olympic dream Arctic nations. relay near the Kremlin. A security guard quickly took out his lighter TORCH IN SPACE and reignited the torch. Dozens of turns into a nightmare On Nov. 7, a rocket emblazoned other such cases followed, drawing BELGRADE/BILECA: When Sasa Matic was away region of Abkhazia and then return in with the emblem of the Sochi mockery and sardonic observations offered a job on a building site in Sochi, he sus- order to renew the permit. The level of security, Games carried the torch to the from some commentators. pected it was too good to be true. Yet he and however, unnerved them. International Space Station. scores of others from Serbia and Bosnia heeded “The town was almost under siege and we Cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei FLAME ACCIDENTS the siren call of Russia’s 2014 Winter Olympics, were afraid that we could get caught so we Ryazanskiy then took the torch on On at least two occasions, in the seduced by the prospect of earning more in two decided: if something like that happens we will an unprecedented spacewalk Nov. Siberia city of Abakan in November months than most Serbs or Bosnians pocket in a give ourselves in,” said 31-year-old Kuljic. 9. For safety reasons, the torch and in the Ural Mountains city of year. Their supervisors promised to organise the didn’t burn aboard the space out- Yekaterinburg in December, torch- “It was a dodgy deal, but I thought: it’s only border trip, but it never happened and the work- post. bearers’ clothes caught fire but two months. The money was good, and I need- ers’ tourist visas expired. Some, like Matic, fled. were quickly extinguished without ed it,” said Matic, an unemployed 41-year-old Others stayed, dodging the police as best they ATOP EUROPE’S HIGHEST injury. Some blamed the poor from the western Serbian town of Sabac. could until their luck ran out. MOUNTAIN design of the torch, which was He was just one of thousands of migrant Arrested and held in detention for days, Lero, Russian mountaineers lit the developed by a factory that manu- workers recruited mainly from ex-Soviet Central Kuljic and Stolica were flown home with 120 oth- torch atop Mount Elbrus, at 5,642 factures ballistic missiles, drawing Asia but also from the Balkans to work on the ers on a plane chartered by the Serbian govern- meters (18,510 feet) the highest jokes about the reliability of com- $50 billion construction of the Sochi Games, a ment. They earned only 250 euros each. mountain in Russia and Europe. pany’s main product. prestige project of huge importance for Russia’s image at home and abroad. “PROMISED LAND” IN THE WORLD’S DEEPEST LAKE TRAGIC DEATH For Matic, however, it quickly turned into a Asked about the reports of mistreatment, In November, divers plunged A wrestling coach, 73-year-old KRASNAYA POLYANA: Alexey Voyevoda, a former Olympic bob- nightmare. The Serbian government repatriated Thomas Back, the president of the International into Lake Baikal, the world’s Vadim Gorbenko, died of a heart more than 100 Balkan workers last month after Olympic Committee, told reporters in Sochi on sledder, who won silver in the 4-man bobsled in Turin in 2006, biggest and deepest freshwater attack Dec. 15, a few hours after car- carries the Olympic torch throughout the streets of the Rosa they were detained by Russian police for work- Monday the issue had been addressed and lake, with special torches burning rying the Olympic flame in the city ing illegally. Matic escaped and spent a week resolved. Khutor ski resort in Krasnaya Polyana. —AP underwater. of Kurgan. —AP train-hopping and hitchhiking before finally “As a result of this, 227 million roubles have walking into Serbia across its northern border been paid to workers in compensation to with Hungary. address this issue,” he said. Russian Deputy Prime Speaking to Reuters, Matic described how Minister Dmitry Kozak, who has a major role in IOC eyes Games revamp after a 27-hour bus ride to Sochi, he was given overseeing the Olympic preparations, said last lodgings in an empty room and put to work as a month he was confident workers would get the plasterer without a contract or the necessary money they were promised. “We will continue as Olympic opening nears visa. He rigged a light bulb in his room with a monitoring this until all the work is complete scavenged power cable. and all debts have been settled,” he said. Though promised around 4,000 euros In Belgrade, the interior ministry’s anti-traf- SOCHI: While Sochi scrambles to get ready in “We believe we should do more to support melt away when qualifying begins on Thursday in ($5,500), he received only two advance pay- ficking department said authorities have for time for tomorrow’s opening ceremony, the better bid cities in their engagement,” IOC Vice the new event aimed at attracting a younger ments totalling 600 euros, which he spent main- years been dealing with the problem of migrant International Olympic Committee cast its eyes President John Coates said at the start of the IOC audience. “I really hope not, we’re all pretty good ly on food. “We finished the job ahead of sched- workers from Serbia being exploited abroad as past the most expensive Games ever staged and session yesterday. friends and we get on well, so it would be a ule and demanded our pay,” Matic said. “A they try to escape chronic unemployment and began to look for ways of revamping the global “Are we not asking too much too soon (from shame if all that was to change and everyone Russian man came in wielding a gun. He was like poverty at home. sporting spectacular. bid cities)? Should the bidding procedure be turned up tomorrow all serious,” the 20-year-old the baddie in a gangster movie. We took what lit- “We had a case in 2005 in Azerbaijan where Russian President Vladimir Putin has staked his more an invitation of potential bidders rather said, grinning. tle money they gave us and left.” about 800 workers from the region were subject- personal and political prestige on hosting a suc- than a tender for a franchise? The cost of the bids “Obviously I would be so stoked to win an ed to exploitation,” department head Mitar cessful Games and turning the Black Sea resort concerns us all,” the Australian said. Olympic medal, but just the fact that slopestyle is TOURIST VISA Djuraskovic said. into a more attractive tourism destination. in the Olympics for the first time is so sick. Not The run-up to the Games, due to kick off on “There were also cases in Dubai and Belarus,” Ratings agency Moody’s said in a report on TEETHING PROBLEMS many people get to do this, you know?” Feb. 7, has been dominated by the threat posed he added. Two years ago, police used undercover Wednesday that the Sochi Games, which have The discussions, part of the IOC’s Olympic For some snowboarders, however, the focus is by Islamist insurgents in Russia’s turbulent officers posing as relatives to halt a busload of cost a reported $50 billion, were unlikely to pro- Agenda 2020 launched by President Thomas on the Olympic course that has already claimed Caucasus region. workers heading for Italy and arrest the man vide much of a boost to the Russian economy. Bach, comes as athletes arrive en mass at the one victim.