TIL that in 1956 during the Olympic torch relay, a veterinary student staged a protest and made a fake flame by lighting a pair of underpants on fire in a can and handing it over to the next runner

https://web.archive.org/web/20080413001401/http://www.thebirdman.org/Index/Temp/Temp-OlympicUnderwearRelay-EH.htm

31 points · 4 comments · view on lemmy.world

4 Comments

quixotic120@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2y (1 reply)
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ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 2y

A real flame, but not one ignited by the sun in Greece. (Or wherever it is started)

Kolanaki@yiffit.net · 5 pts · 2y (2 replies)

What reason would they have for protesting the Olympics?

stoy@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 2y (1 reply)

The Olympic flame relay is a tradition started by the Nazis during the 1936 olympic games, the protest was to show dissatisfaction with keeping the tradition alive.

These days, I doubt anyone makes the same connection.

Kolanaki@yiffit.net · 3 pts · 2y

Sounds like the one actually not fucked up thing the Nazis started. Should we stop doing fun, harmless things just because a Nazi did them too?