London's mayor Boris Johnson wanted to make a grand entrance into an Olympics event to show his pride for his city. His entrance was surprising, but it didn't go as expected. Mayor Johnson was riding a zipline when he got stuck midway.
The possible future British prime minister was wearing a business suit and was carrying Union Jack flags in his hands as he made his entrance over Victoria Park in east London. The park is a viewing area for crowds to gather and watch the Olympic events on large screens.
As the quirky Conservative mayor flew over the crowd, waving to people as he went by, an announcer said "Is it a bird? Is it a plane?"
Well it sure wasn't Superman. Mayor Johnson, 48, met his Kryptonite as his flight came to a halt in the middle of the 350 yard zipline. Mayor Johnson, with his flags, business suit, and all, was left awkwardly dangling above the spectators.
The spectators were laughing at Mayor Johnson's expense. Photos of the mayor dangling above the crowd quickly spread through Twitter.
Despite the issue, the mayor had a good attitude about it himself and continued to humor the crowds.
"Can you get me a rope? Get me a rope, ok?" he called to the crowds, as quoted by AFP. "I think we need to test it on somebody going a bit faster..."
He was left dangling for several minutes, but officials were eventually able to pull him the rest of the way across the zipline.
"I think possibly what had happened was that they left a brake on or something," Johnson told ITV television.
Mayor Johnson enjoyed his experience even though he only got halfway through. "Anyway, it was wonderful and I thoroughly recommend it."
The zipline is open to the public. However, some people might not want to give it a try after Mayor Johnson's snag.
Mayor Johnson's office also found some humor in the situation. "Clearly the judges are likely to mark him down for artistic interpretation, and, unlike Team GB, he won't be bagging any gold medals today but he remains unbowed," his office said in a statement.
Not long after the incident, someone created a blog called DangleBoris, which features several photoshopped pictures of the dangling mayor in various situations.
The Mayor has been very excited about the Olympic Games being in his city. He has tried to raise excitement as various Olympic events. For instance during a surprise appearance at a beach volleyball even at Horse Guards Palace, the mayor got the crowd of 15,000 spectators to participate in the wave.
This isn't the first time the comedic mayor has had a publicly embarrassing moment. In 2009, he fell into a river while promoting a volunteering campaign.
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