Olympic bronze medallist Hal Haig-Pireste should feel at home with members of the IOC committee when he officially hands back the Olympic flag he swiped at the 1932 games in Belgium.
The 103-year-old athlete is just a few years older than many who break bread at the IOC top table. The former American diver climbed a 15-foot pole to steal the flag following a dare from his team-mates almost 80 years ago. Haig-Pireste is the oldest surviving American Olympian and the flag is regarded as the first to feature the five rings on a white backround.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/f6af4aa9-3e11-4b2d-ad9f-be0f224302ab.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)