A group of seven budding young Russian explorers, under the guidance of famous polar travelers Matvey Shparo and Boris Smolin, have just returned from the North Pole where they have raised a flag which features the ‘Sochi 2014.ru’ logo.
The young Arctic travelers set off on their expedition on April, 16th from the Russian drifting station Barneo. It took them 6 days to travel the 110 km to the North Pole on drifting ice in the Arctic Ocean. 1.00 am on April, 22nd was a polar day in Arctic, the Sochi 2014 flag was raised at the North Pole. The Russian Federation flag and the Teacher’s Year flag were also raised alongside Sochi’s.
The leader of the “Skiing to Northen Pole” expedition, Matvey Shparo said:
”The Games represent a strong and unifying power for me. My father, Dmitry Shparo is a famous traveler who was given the honor of carrying the Olympic torch at the relay of the 1980 Moscow Games and now I am able to say that I lead an expedition that carried the Sochi flag to the North Pole.
This journey was very challenging for me but also a great success. I am honored that I have been given the opportunity to be part of the Russian Olympic movement and I am looking forward to the Games coming to Sochi in 2014. This is a great honor for all the Russian people”.
