In which the fundamentally fraudulent nature of the Olympic Games is revealed:
In what some might consider a predictable incident, the Olympic flame was extinguished today as the torch relay took to the water on a raft through the canoe slalom venue in Essex. Day 50 was a difficult one for the torch relay, after a crash between two motorcycles earlier forced a delay and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s turn carrying the flame was marred by pouring rain. In the first setback for the day, the torch convoy was held up for 20 minutes after two motorbike riders collided near Chelmsford around 7.40am,and had to be rushed to hospital with suspected broken bones….
It isn’t the first time the Olympic flame has gone out as it makes its way through the UK. Back on May 21, just three days into the relay, the flame on a torch attached to para-badminton star David Follett’s wheelchair burned out while in Devon. In another early hitch to proceedings, the flame was blown out by a gust of wind as it was being lit for the first time in Greece. It had to be relit before being handed to a torchbearer.
Symbols and traditions are important and worthy of respect, but the Olympic symbolism is simply fake through and through. It’s a pity the torch isn’t genuinely some sort of augury, or we could hope that the games would be cancelled as a result of all these bad omens.