Torch for Sochi games on longest journey in Winter Olympics history


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SALT LAKE CITY — Events for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia may not have started yet, but the Olympic torch is already on the move.

The torch relay will last four months and cover more than 65,000 km (40,400 miles) in the longest relay in Winter Olympic Games History. The journey began Oct. 7 in Moscow.

The torch will travel by road, rail and air. The long trip includes visits to 2,900 Russian localities and was designed to allow 90 percent of the country's population to see the torch.

The relay is not limited to the mainland of Russia — the torch was taken on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station in November and brought to the North Pole in October.

The design of the torch was inspired by a feather of the legendary Russian Firebird, also known as a Phoenix, and made to withstand temperatures from -40 to 40 degrees.

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Natalie Crofts

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