ST. PETERSBURG, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Olympic flame made its way through St. Petersburg on Sunday on its way to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Galina Zybina was again chosen as the lead torchbearer, as she had been in the leadup to the Beijing Olympics.
The starting point for today's relay was also the same as that chosen for the Beijing relay: the Monument to the Defenders of Leningrad in the city's Victory Square.
Light rain in St. Petersburg did not dampen the enthusiasm of the local crowd, which thronged the torch relay route for a glimpse of the Olympic flame.
After a bright song and dance performance, the torch was brought into the square, with the 82-year-old Zybina formally opening the two-day St. Petersburg leg of the relay.
Zybina, a survivor of the 900-day Nazi siege of Leningrad, had won the women's shot put gold for former Soviet Union at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki as well as other international honors and iconic status within former Soviet Union as a Champion Athlete, Red Flag Workers' Medal holder and Defender of Leningrad.
The Olympic torch relay in Russia will last 123 days, passing through 132 cities in 83 federal districts. An estimated 14,000-plus people will carry the torch in the relay.