Has a bad omen been cast over the 2014 Sochi Winter Games? If so, we have Vladimir Putin to blame.
It all started on Sunday afternoon when Putin made a speech it the Red Square for the Sochi Games lighting ceremony.
“Today is a joyous and momentous day,” Putin exclaimed. “The Olympic flame—the symbol of the planet’s main sports event, the symbol of peace and friendship—has arrived in Russia, and in a few minutes it will be on its way around our huge country.”
After Putin’s speech, the Olympic flame was to be carried by Russian hero Shavarsh Karapetyan into the Kremlin. Karapetyan was chosen to carry the torch thanks to his accomplishments as a champion swimmer for the Soviet Union and for his heroic actions to save 20 passengers from a trolleybus that had fallen into a 30-foot deep reservoir. The 60-year-old had used his back legs to smash open the rear window of the trolleybus to save 20 of the 92 passengers onboard.
Once Karapetyan received the flame, he ran through a long passageway leading into the Kremlin, which subsequently created a gusting wind tunnel, extinguishing the Olympic flame. A man believed to be part of the presidential security team pulled a lighter out of his pocket and relit the flame.
The Olympic flame had been previously lit in Greece a week ago during an official ceremony to commemorate the beginning of the Olympic season. Now, the flame seems to have been relit by a Bic lighter. Kinda takes the prestige out of it, doesn’t it?
On Twitter, Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of the Sochi organizing committee, said the accident was caused by the torch’s valve not being completely open.
The torch will remain in Moscow for the next couple days before heading east to the Bering Strait, where it will then head to Sochi in time for the Olympic Opening Ceremony on February 7th.
