| Hal Haig Prieste’s Olympic Flag | |
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Origin |
Hal Haig Prieste |
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Type |
Olympic Flag |
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Effects |
Makes things disappear when searched for |
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Downsides |
Excessive sneezing when items found |
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Activation |
Possession |
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Section |
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| [Source] | |
Origin[]
Hal Haig "Harry" Prieste (November 23, 1896 – April 19, 2001) was an American athlete who participated in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp as a diver. He won a bronze medal in platform diving as a member of the 1920 US Olympic team and competed in the plain high diving event, but was eliminated first round.
He is known for taking the original five-interlocking-ring Olympic flag as a prank at the 1920 Summer Olympics hosted by the city of Antwerp, Belgium. At the end of the Games, the flag could not be found. In 1997, at a banquet hosted by the US Olympic Committee, a reporter was interviewing him and the reporter mentioned that the IOC had not been able to find out what had happened to the original Olympic flag. "I can help you with that," Prieste said matter-of-factly, "It's in my suitcase."
At the end of the Antwerp Olympics, spurred on by team-mate Duke Kahanamoku, he climbed a flagpole and stole the Olympic flag. For 77 years the flag was stored away in the bottom of his suitcase. The flag was returned to the IOC by Prieste, by then 103 years old, in a special ceremony held at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. At the handover, IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch gave him a commemorative Olympic medal in a box, to which the hard-of-hearing Prieste responded, "What is it? Kleenex?" The Antwerp Olympic Flag is now on display at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a plaque thanking him for donating it.
At the time of his death at 104, Prieste was the world's oldest former Olympic medalist, and the first known Olympian whose lifespan covered three centuries (1896–2001).
Effects[]
Makes other objects or even people disappear exactly when someone decides to try finding them. Searching turns up nothing, the subject just vanishing without explanation. Continuing to have wonder where in the heavens it ended up continually hides it from view. Only after one has given up or forgotten the task will it reappear in the most unexpected of places. The triumphant find is also accompanied by a bout of continual sneezing for the next several days.