There is a light that sometimes goes out: the Olympic torch protests – The Guardian

Are you kind of, sort of, not really into the fact that the Olympics are still going to happen later this month in Tokyo despite the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that the vast majority of our planets 7.8 billion people remain unvaccinated, with alarming outbreaks cropping up worldwide?

If so, youve got a friend in Kayoko Takahashi.

According to the Tokyo Reporter, the 53-year-old woman from Hitachi attempted to extinguish the flame of the Olympic torch as it passed through Mito en route to Japans capital on Sunday by shooting at it with a squirt gun.

We are opposed to the Olympics! she can be heard shouting in a video that has since gone viral on social media as she takes aim at the torch. Stop the Olympics!

Apparently, Takahashis opposition stems from the fact that only 14% of Japans population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Her efforts to extinguish the flame ultimately proved unsuccessful, though she was arrested for deliberately aiming at the runner [carrying the torch] and interfering with the relay, Noriaki Nagatsuka, Mitos deputy chief of police, told Vice News.

In Takahashis defense, its actually hard to put out an Olympic torch. (Unless youre a literal rainstorm, like the one at the 1976 Montreal Games that managed to put out the entire gigantic flame in the stadium.) Many have attempted to do just that, though! And often for political reasons. Others have taken advantage of the torchs far-reaching media visibility to stage other kinds of protests while leaving the flame itself alone. Here are some notable examples from the past few decades.

As the Olympic torch relay entered its final stretch on the way to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Games, a young man hurled a bucket of water at it in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to extinguish it.

The man was not the only one who attempted to put out the torch in the lead-up to the 2016 games in Brazil. As the flame passed through Angra dos Reis, a group of striking teachers furious at Rios state government for funding the Olympics while not paying them for two months seized upon it, successfully putting it out as part of their protest.

Two years earlier on the torch relay to Sochi, a gay rights activist attempted to wave a rainbow flag as the flame passed through Voronezh, presumably to call attention the Russian state oppression of LGBTQ+ people. He was tackled and detained by police for doing so.

As the Olympic torch passed through London on the way to the 2008 Games in Beijing, a protester unsuccessfully tried to put it out using a literal fire extinguisher.

French protesters succeeded where that fire extinguisher fan failed, though, successfully extinguishing the flame at least three times in an effort to call attention to the Chinese governments record of human rights abuses in occupied Tibet.

And finally, we have ... bong hits for Jesus? Yep! Bong hits for Jesus. In 2002, an Alaska high school student held up a banner advocating BONG HITS 4 JESUS on the side of the Olympic torch relay as it cut through Juneau on the way to Salt Lake City. His 10-day suspension gave way to a first amendment legal battle, culminating with a 2007 supreme court ruling in favor of school administrators.

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There is a light that sometimes goes out: the Olympic torch protests - The Guardian