Commentary
THE OLYMPIC FLAME VISITS THE NORTH POLE
Lassi Heininen
The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay, which was carried by the Russian icebreaker “50 Years of
the Victory”, reached the North Pole on the 19th of October 2013 at 2:37 pm. The Olympic
flame was lit in the cauldron at the North Pole during the same day.
An international delegation of the Arctic states brought the Olympic flame to the North Pole as
part of the Torch Relay for the XXII Olympic Winter Games and the XI Paralympic Winter
Games of 2014 in the City of Sochi. The delegation was led by Arthur Chilingarov, a famous
Russian polar explorer and the Special Envoy of President Putin to the Arctic and the Antarctic.
It consisted of members who represented scientific communities of the Arctic states, with many
of them active in international scientific higher educational cooperation. Among other honorary
torchbearers were Professor Elena Kudryashova, Rector of the Northern Arctic Federal
University (NArFU), Russia; Dr. Christian Marcussen from Denmark; Dr. Jan-Gunnar Winther,
Director of the Norwegian Polar Institute; and Profess ܈\