This week's collection of whimsical and curious stories will finally acknowledge that the Olympic games just took place in Tokyo. As usual, we will take a look at one of the sillier moments that the history of the modern games has to offer.
A complicated legacy - As the Olympic flame over the Tokyo's main stadium was extinguished, the Olympic flag was symbolically passed on to Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, where the next games will be hosted. Connected to this tradition is also that of the Olympic torch relay during which a burning torch is carried from the ancient Olympic venue in Greece to the home of the next Olympic games. While this might seem like an entirely wholesome exercise in symbolically connecting the ancient games to the modern games, the origins of the torch run are somewhat burdened by history. You see, the first torch run was organized for the 1936 Berlin Olympics and, in 1956, with World War II fresh in everybody's memory, a group of Australian students decided to protest against retaining that tradition.
The Olympic torch hoax - With the Olympic torch scheduled to arrive in Sydney for the 1956 games, nine students from St John's College (University of Sydney) set out to disrupt the relay by arriving early with their own torch. The torch was hastily put together using a wooden chair leg painted silver and topped by a plum pudding can. A pair of underpants, previously worn by one of the students, was put inside the can and soaked in kerosene to provide the fuel. The plan was for one of the students dressed in a white sporting outfit to carry the torch to the mayor's reception and tricking the assembled crowd. Unfortunately, the burning underpants fell out of the torch while the fake torch bearer was still running through the suburbs. Once the underpants were back burning inside the torch, one of the students continued the run flanked by a fellow student on a motorbike (in an air force uniform) to make it look official. By the time they had reached Sydney's town hall, they had picked up a full police escort who erroneously confused the fake torch for the real thing. Arriving prior to schedule, the confused mayor immediately commenced his speech to the assembled crowd which gave the pranksters enough time to quietly slip away. The torch bearer, Barry Larkin, received standing ovations back at the University of Sydney and went on to become a successful veterinary surgeon
Barry Larking carrying the fake Olympic torch, Sydney 1956
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