Russia takes Olympic torch to North Pole

Russia has lit the Olympic flame at the North Pole for the first time as part of a spectacular relay ahead of the Sochi Winter Games, organisers said on Friday. "The 2014 Olympic flame has been lit at the North Pole," said the organisers of the relay, which started in Red Square and is due to take an unlit torch into space next month. Russia hosts the Games in its Black Sea resort of Sochi in February. The event has already broken records in terms of the costs of its preparation, with a total budget of more than $50 billion (36 million euro). A lit torch was carried from the deck of a nuclear icebreaker across a stretch of ice to the North Pole by 11 torchbearers from Arctic countries including the United States, Iceland and Finland. Russian Arctic researcher Artur Chilingarov, 74, then used the torch to light a cauldron at the North Pole itself amid temperatures of around -25 degrees Centigrade (-13 Fahrenheit). The event included a laser show projecting polar bears and national flags onto the ice. The torch travelled on a nuclear icebreaker, The 50 Years of Victory, which belongs to the Russian nuclear energy agency. The icebreaker took almost four days to reach the pole from the port of Murmansk, making the trip in polar night conditions for the first time. It was painted with the Olympic logo for the occasion. The torch reached the pole on the night of October 19 and 20, but organisers only released a statement on its return Friday. Source: AFP