The protests and demonstrations occurring everywhere the Olympic Torch appears have reminded me of the prank from the 1956 Olympic torch relay in Australia, when a guy carrying a wooden chair leg topped by a pair of flaming underwear ran out in front of the crowd waiting to see the torch bearer pass by, and everyone in the crowd thought he was the real thing. He was even greeted by the mayor of Sydney. The full article about the Olympic Underwear Relay is in the hoaxipedia.

The 1956 prankster was mocking the idea of the torch relay itself. He felt the torch relay was treated with too much reverence, given that the tradition of the relay originated during the 1936 games in Nazi Germany. I keep waiting for someone to try to replicate his prank this year, but it hasn't happened yet. There's so much security surrounding the runners, it would be hard to pull it off.

Another memorable torch-relay moment occurred in 2002 when 18-year-old Joseph Frederick stood on the street across from his high school in Juneau, Alaska and held up a sign reading "Bong hits 4 Jesus" as the Olympic torch passed by. It earned him a 10 day suspension. Frederick appealed, and the case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the principal did have the right to discipline him, even though Frederick wasn't on school property when he held up the sign.

Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Thu Apr 10, 2008  at  11:04 PM

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Posted by KDP  in  Madill, Oklahoma  on  Fri Apr 11, 2008  at  12:55 PM

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Posted by Big Gary  in  San Marcos, Texas  on  Fri Apr 11, 2008  at  04:00 PM

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