Alex Ovechkin spent about twenty hours in the air to travel to Greece and become the first Russian torch bearer for the Sochi Olympics. A few Washington Capitals officials traveled with Ovi, and today they published their behind-the-scenes video of the trip. The five-minute long video shows Ovi at Verizon Center slapping high-fives with fans and head coach Adam Oates before scurrying to the airport. After posing for a few photos and proving that he does indeed control his Twitter account (we never had any doubt), Ovi departs for Olympia.
Once in Greece, we get new angles of Ovechkin running with the torch (and five very fit, serious-looking bodyguards). After he finished his leg of the run, a pretty sweaty Russian machine hops in a van and describes the experience as “unbelievable, but my arm is exhausted.”
“It means a lot,” Ovechkin continued, struggling to find the words for what he just accomplished. “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just.. unbelievable.”
Watch. And then make us some GIFs. We’ll post them below.