Former Soviet Union ice hockey legend Vladislav Tretiak has said that he was proud to have lit the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony of the Sochi Games.
The 61-year-old did the honours along with figure skating icon Irina Rodnina on Friday.
"We - all flame and flagbearers - sat in special room and watched the opening ceremony on TV," he told Russia Today.
"And it was a different feeling. But when I went out – ah, all the people, and the atmosphere and I got so excited."
Tretiak won three Olympic medals.
