By the same token, Mr. Osin said, the flame had set people on fire only on three occasions, and never in a hazardous way. “It’s not dangerous,” Mr. Osin said. “It didn’t even damage the garments of the torchbearers.”
I don’t know why I find “the Olympic torch has only set people on fire three times” so funny, but I do. It reminds me of the line from the Spinal Tap commentary track about the pods working…maybe 70% of the time, but Marty DiBergi had to pick one night they didn’t work and make a big deal out of it…
Also tickling my funny bone:
The Olympic flame is not eternal, but is relit a few months before each Olympics, said Bill Mallon, a former president of the International Society of Olympic Historians. It originates in the temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, where it is ceremonially lit by “supposedly Greek virgin priestesses,” Mr. Mallon said, using the sun’s rays via a parabolic mirror.
“supposedly Greek virgin priestesses”? I’m not sure I want to think about that.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 18th, 2013 at 11:10 am and is filed under Clippings, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.