Is it an Olympic torch or a big, fat joint?
Some people in Vancouver are wondering, as the marijuana capital of Canada gears up to host next year’s Winter Games. The silver and white torch, when lit, reminds them of a marijuana cigarette, giving new meaning to the Games’ motto of aiming “higher.”
“It’s white, there’s the fire, and there’s its irregular size that’s wide in the middle and thin on both ends,” said Jonathan Mercier, 27, a tourist from Montreal. He’s not surprised that the torch is being dubbed the “Olympic toke.”
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Vancouver Games organizers, who plan to escort the Olympic flame on a 45,000km public relay across Canada before the Feb. 12 opening ceremonies, are happy to get the free publicity.
“We’re thrilled that people are talking about the torch design” in Canada and the US, said Jim Richards, 45, the Games’ director of torch relays. “It’s absolutely tremendous.”
US comedian Jimmy Kimmel, on his late-night television program last week, poked fun with a doctored photograph purportedly showing gold-medal swimmer Michael Phelps smoking the torch. Jim Rome also lampooned the torch in a commentary on ESPN television last Thursday.
A team of 80, including aerospace engineers, designed the stainless steel and aluminum torch at Montreal-based Bombardier, said Isabelle Rondeau, a spokeswoman for the world’s third-biggest airplane maker. The torch, weighing 1.6kg and stretching 95cm, is meant to symbolize winter sports, ice and snow, Rondeau said.
“The real inspiration was the winter landscape and the lines that skis make in the snow,” Rondeau said.
Locals may have reason to see things differently. British Columbia, the third-most populous Canadian province, leads the nation in marijuana production, said Sergeant Bill Whalen of the Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia, an arm of the provincial government.
The 300 block of West Hastings Street is home to shops selling marijuana paraphernalia and to the Marijuana Party’s so-called vapor lounge, where people heat up marijuana and inhale the fumes.
Reaction to the torch controversy has been mellow in that neighborhood, said Jodie Emery, 24, an editor of Cannabis Culture magazine.
“It’s a coincidence that Vancouver is very marijuana-friendly, and known for being such, and that the torch for the Vancouver Olympics looks like a marijuana joint,” said Emery, whose husband, Marc, has campaigned to legalize marijuana in Canada.
Still, she’s keeping her mind open to more conspiratorial explanations.
“Maybe somebody on the design team might have tried to slip that in,” Emery said.
Taiwanese powerlifter Fan Chun- chia (范峻嘉) won the gold medal in the men’s 74-kilogram class bench press at the 2026 International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Classic Open Powerlifting Championships in Lithuania on Monday (local time), with a world record breaking 216-kilogram lift. The 27-year-old Fan was one of 23 competitors in the men’s 74-kilogram class, in which competitors’ final results are calculated from the combined amount lifted in three separate categories -- bench press, squat lift and deadlift. Fan opened the event by lifting 262.5 kilograms in the squat, placing him in fifth place overall. In the bench press, Fan started with 205-kilogram,
The Detroit Tigers on Wednesday were without two players in their 4-2 MLB loss to the Houston Astros, missing outfielder Wenceel Perez due to a freak accident and second baseman Gleyber Torres with an oblique strain. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters that Perez was hit in the the face by a resistance band in the training room following their game on Tuesday. Detroit reinstated right-hander Casey Mize from the injured list and put him on the mound in Houston. Mize (4-2) gave up three runs and six hits over 4-2/3 innings to take the loss against the Astros. Houston’s Peter Lambert allowed
LEVEL WITH KLOSE: The questions over Lionel Messi’s fitness were allayed as he scored a hat-trick to draw level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose on goals Lionel Messi on Tuesday used the front of his white-and-blue, sweat-soaked jersey to wipe the tears from his eyes, a flood of emotions cracking his usually calm, confident demeanor after he gave Argentina an early lead in their opener at the FIFA World Cup with a 3-0 win against Algeria. Then he scored twice more. Suddenly, any questions about Messi’s hamstring injury, or whether he could help Argentina become the third team to win consecutive World Cups — even as his 39th birthday approaches next week — had been answered. With a brilliant hat trick in their win over Les Fennecs at
South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo on Wednesday said a drone was spotted flying over a training session before their clash with FIFA World Cup cohosts Mexico, calling the incident “unfortunate.” Victory in South Korea’s match against Mexico in Guadalajara today would virtually guarantee progress to the knockout rounds, and put the winners in pole position to top Group A, which also contains South Africa and the Czech Republic. However, South Korea’s preparations on Tuesday were interrupted by the incident, which prompted fears of spying, with South Korean news agency Yonhap reporting that the drone was brought down by Mexico’s military using radio
RSS