MOSCOW Dec 16 (Reuters) - A torchbearer died of a heart attack after carrying the Olympic flame as part of Russia's torch relay leading up to the Sochi 2014 Winter Games in February, an official said on Monday. 
 
 Vadim Gorbenko, 73, a sports school director and Greco-Roman wrestling coach, felt ill after walking 150 metres (500 feet) with the torch in his home city of Kurgan in western Siberia, said Roman Osin, spokesman for the Sochi 2014 torch relay. 
 
 "He returned to the gathering place and was photographed, then he said he was not feeling well and was taken to hospital, but the doctors were unable to save him," Osin, who travels with the relay, said by telephone. 
 
 "We express our deepest condolences to his loved ones." 
 
 Osin said Gorbenko, who had trained top Russian wrestlers and won state honours, had suffered two heart attacks in the past. He was conscious when he was taken to hospital and had spoken to his son at his bedside before his death. 
 
 Russia's four-month, 65,000-km (40,000 mile) torch relay has been clouded by mishaps. 
 
 The flame has gone out dozens of times since President Vladimir Putin handed it off in Red Square on Oct. 6, and last month a torchbearer's jacket caught fire as he carried the flame though another Siberian city. 
 
 Cosmonauts took an unlit torch on a spacewalk last month. The Olympic flame has been to the north pole and Lake Baikal on a journey that will end at the opening ceremony in Sochi on Feb. 7. 
 
 Putin appears eager to improve Russia's image and build his own legacy by hosting the country's first post-Soviet Olympics, but he has faced criticism over legislation seen in the West as anti-gay and some world leaders are staying away from the Games. 
 
 The 14,000 torchbearers in the Sochi 2014 relay are not asked to sign releases but are warned that it involves some physical exertion and their health is their own responsibility, Osin said. (Writing by Steve Gutterman, editing by Elizabeth Piper) 

 Olympictorch2014.Com / AP Nikolai Malykh carries the torch during the Olympic flame relay in a tunnel of a Siberian hydroelectric plant this week. Another torchbearer briefly caught fire. 
 
 On the Sochi Olympics torch relay, the longest in history, the biggest problem has been simply keeping the flame going. This week there was a different mishap: One of the torchbearers caught himself on fire. 
 
 Pyotr Makarchuk, a former Russian Olympic bobsledder, was carrying the torch through a crowd in the Siberian city of Abakan on Wednesday when flames suddenly leapt onto the left shoulder and arm of his jacket. 
 
 Escorts put out the fire, and Makarchuk was not hurt, Roman Osin, a spokesman for the torch relay, told Reuters. He said that the flames were caused by drops of liquid gas that fell onto the jacket. 
 
 The torch is traveling 40,000 miles on its way to the opening ceremony in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the Winter Games open on Feb. 7. It has been to the North Pole, and cosmonauts took an unlit torch on a ceremonial space walk last month. 
 
 The trouble is that it keeps going out. 
 
 On Oct. 6, minutes after President Vladimir Putin started the relay, the flame died while a former Soviet swimming champion was jogging it through an archway at the Kremlin. A man nearby jumped to the rescue with a cigarette lighter. 
 
 Since then, The Moscow Times has counted 44 times that the flame has gone out. An independent Russian television station reported that it sputtered and died eight times in just the first six days. 
 
 Osin, the spokesman, told Reuters earlier this month that the torch’s performance was within the normal range of error. He declined to say how many times the flame had gone out. 
 
 Reuters contributed to this report. 
 
 Slideshow: Sochi 2014 Mikhail Mordasov / AFP - Getty Images The Winter Olympics arrive in Sochi on Feb. 7, 2014. A look at how the Russian city is shaping up for its moment in the spotlight. Launch slideshow 
 
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 Story highlights Hollande has no plans to go to the Winter Olympics in Russia, foreign minister says 
 
 The move comes on the heels of German President Joachim Gauck's similar choice 
 
 Russia has been criticized for human rights abuses and discrimination 
 
 Count one more world leader out of the Winter Olympics, which start February 7 in Sochi, Russia. 
 
 French President Francois Hollande will not be attending the Sochi Games, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday. 
 
 Less than a week after German President Joachim Gauck chose to boycott the Olympics, Fabius was asked about Hollande's plans for the Games. 
 
 "This (has) not been planned ... to attend," Fabius responded. "But at the same time I wish all the success for these games. But for now, it is not expected that the highest French authorities attend." 
 
 Like German officials, Fabius declined to explain the decision further. 
 
 Eighty kings, queens, presidents and other world leaders attended the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Summer Olympics, according to the British newspaper The Guardian. 
 
 Host country Russia has been receiving scrutiny and criticism for alleged human rights violations, harassment of opposition political figures, and a law passed earlier this year banning "gay propaganda," which critics have said promotes discrimination. 
 
 German president will not attend Olympics in Russia 
 
 Sochi 2014: Russia to set up protest zones at Winter Olympics
– A Russian wrestling coach carried the Olympic flame 500 feet, had his photo taken, said he didn't feel well ... and ended up dead of a heart attack, an official said today. Vadim Gorbenko, 73, who had trained top wrestlers and also acted as a sports school director, was taking part in the Sochi 2014 Winter Games torch relay in his home city in Siberia, Reuters reports. A spokesperson for the torch relay says torchbearers are warned that their duty involves physical exertion, and he had previously suffered two other heart attacks. It's not the only spot of bad news for the Sochi games: The torch has had a bit of an ill-fated ride (see this and this), and now French President Francois Hollande says he won't attend, CNN reports. No explanation has been given as to why not, but Russia has been criticized for its anti-gay laws, alleged human rights problems, and other issues. German President Joachim Gauck has also said he will boycott the games.