Christopher gets his torch back

Maj Gen Jaruk Areeratchakaran, the committee secretary general, said in a press conference on Monday that nobody grabbed the torch from Christopher. He said it was the officials from the Thai Olympic Committee that took the torch. The torch was placed in the Committee's vehicle for safe keeping.

"Khun Christopher assumed that his torch was snatched because he did not know that it was our officials who took the torch and kept it for him," Jaruk said.

The torch has been returned to Christopher.

However, it is still unclear as to why it took the committee three days to set the record straight.

Christopher, a former actor, told reporters on Saturday that his torch was snatched from his hands after he passed the flames to next runner on Saturday.

In a separate incident, also involving the Olympic torch, Jaruk gave the same explanation over the missing torch of another runner, Noi Timkul. It was not snatched but kept for safekeeping.

But in a third related incident, a torch was found in vicinity near the front entrance of the National Olympic committee office early Monday morning. It has traces of being chewed by a dog. No one has yet to explain how the toothmark got there.

Jaruk said he did not know the owner of the third torch. If nobody came out to claim the torch, it will be put in the Olympic museum. He suggested that this could be a spare made by the Chinese authorities.

The Nation