Olympic prankster given five-month jail sentence
Last Updated: Thursday, August 19, 2004. 0:04am (AEST)
A Canadian who sparked a security alert at the Olympic Games after leaping into the pool during a diving event wearing a tutu has been sentenced to five months in jail.
However, the 31-year-old, who was not named by the court in Athens, was immediately released pending his appeal against the public order offence conviction.
After also being fined 300 euros ($A517) he told the court he was a music producer who had been trying to gain a few minutes of fame and had not intended to disrupt the Games.
"I acted in the spirit of the celebrating Greeks and Spyros Louis," he said.
Louis won the marathon at the first modern Games held in Athens in 1896.
The man claimed he had been struck by two policemen after being dragged out of the pool at the Olympic Aquatic Centre, but he had not made a formal complaint.
The Athens Olympics organisers said the man had told police he "wanted to present a message to his wife by getting on television."
However the US-based online casino whose name was painted across his nude torso said he was Ron Bensimhon, a serial prankster who had performed a similar stunt at the World Figure Skating Championships in Dortmund in March.
Olympics Games organisers ordered security to be stepped up at all venues after the security breach.
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