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Official 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics torch, constructed of aluminum and various polymers, measuring 37.5" in length and 5.75" at its widest point, developed by a team of designers led by Vladimir Pirozhkov and Andrei Vodyanik. The torch was modeled after the feather of the Firebird, a magical figure from Russian folklore associated with light, fortune, and renewal, and later immortalized in Igor Stravinsky's celebrated ballet. The torch's silver finish symbolizes winter ice, while its vivid red interior evokes the warmth and energy of the Olympic flame. A strip of clear tape has been placed over the lower front cover plate.
The Olympic flame was lit in Olympia, Greece, on September 29, 2013, and arrived on Russian soil on October 7 to begin a five-month, 65,000-kilometer relay through all eighty-three regions of the Russian Federation. Among the most ambitious torch relays in Olympic history, specially designed Sochi torches reached the North Pole, were carried to the summit of Mount Elbrus, descended to a depth of thirteen meters in Lake Baikal, and even traveled into outer space, where cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky passed the torch during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Inspired by the legendary Firebird feather, the Sochi torch remains one of the most distinctive relay designs of the modern Olympic era.
