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Watch a Man Throw a Bucket of Water at the Olympic Torch and Miss


Every Olympic year, the Olympic flame begins its journey from Athens to the host city of that year’s Games. Said to represent the importance of fire to the ancient Greeks, the flame relay is a reliable, if slightly hokey, tradition.

In 2016 as the flame is currently on a 12,400-mile journey to Rio de Janeiro, the site of the Summer Olympics.

Before Rio, though, is a 300-city tour of Brazil. And it was on that tour, on Sunday, that the flame came under attack. Working on what he told police was a dare, a 27-year-old threw a bucket of water at the torch and its bearer, according to the BBC.

In the video above, you can see the perpetrator slowly wait for his moment, before tossing a not-inconsiderable amount of water the flame’s way.

Yet, all of that careful planning failed. The water-tosser, identified as Marcelino Mateus Silva Proença, missed, and was later arrested.

According to CNN, Proença seems to be enjoying the notoriety, posting stories about the water incident on his Facebook page and sharing a selfie of himself leaving the police station.

But he also hinted at political motivations behind the water throw, saying that while he might “have the torch,” he had no education, health, security, or quality of life.

The upcoming Olympics, which begin on August 5, have been beset by a variety of problems and controversies, so it seems fitting that the torch, the official symbol of the games, is encountering its own obstacles.

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