Eighty years after stealing the Olympic flag at the end of the 1920 Olympics, American bronze medallist Hal Prieste confessed here on Monday and handed it back to International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch.
It was the final act of a dare that the now 103-year-old Prieste had with friend Duke Kahanamoku during the Antwerp Games.
The Californian-born Prieste bet a fellow competitor he would take the Olympic flag flying over the closing ceremony.
True to his word, Prieste, who won a bronze medal in the high diving platform, managed to scale the pole and take the flag back with him to the United States.
"He and Duke were pranksters, they were daredevils who wanted to try something different," said Kirk Milburn, a member of the American Olympic Committee.
"One night in Antwerp Duke dared Hal to climb the pole and steal the flag. The police spotted them at the last moment but they were too fit for the constables and got away," he added.
Prieste flew into Sydney Sunday to return the flag which had sat, stored away in his home.
"He has decided it is now time to give it back," smiled IOC executive board member Anita DeFrantz.
Samaranch said the flag would be put into the IOC museum at Lausanne -- SYDNEY (AFP)
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