A lantern containing the Olympic flame arrived in Moscow's Red Square where it was greeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, before it promptly blew out.
After Mr Putin lit the cauldron, he said the "Olympic flame - symbol of the most important sports competition of this planet, symbol of peace and friendship - has arrived in Russia."
The flame then set out on a ceremonial loop through the Kremlin, with 11 torchbearers participating in a relay.
However, the flame, which was lit a week ago in Greece and flown to Moscow earlier on Sunday, went out.
The glitch occurred when torchbearer, former world swimming champion and record holder Shavarsh Karapetyan, ran through a long passageway leading into the Kremlin, which apparently created a wind tunnel, extinguishing the flame. A security guard standing along the route, pulled out a lighter and re-lit the torch.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment