Akin to a bright street lamp in summer mobbed by frenzied moths and other unrecognisable insects, the Olympics has long been a magnet for limelight chasers - all seeking to expose their various gripes, grievances and crusades in the glare of the global publicity surrounding the sporting showpiece.
The bandwagon jumpers come in all shapes and sizes and all are very serious - some deadly so, as terrorists proved at the 1972 Munich Games. Others are manipulative, such as Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Games. And, of course, there were the infantile snub-for-snub Cold War politics that blighted several Games over three decades - most notably the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles events, where the latter saw China return for the first time in 32 years.
Few today need to be reminded the Beijing Games are set to become the most politicised in history. A phalanx of political dissidents and do-gooders, such as the Mia Farrows and Hu Jias of this world, are preparing disruption of one kind or another.
Preoccupied as the mainland security authorities will be with the organised, well-funded campaigners, there is a mounting number of often dubious mainland protesters preparing to piggyback their way into the Bird's Nest on 08-08-08.
Some have serious concerns, of course; illegal land grabs, corruption, pollution and labour disputes have, in the eyes of the victim, as much impact on their lives - if not more - than, say, the three sensitive Ts the government is so worried about - Tibet, Taiwan and the 1989 Tiananmen incident. But perhaps it is time to spare a thought for the organiser Bocog, which also has to deal with a growing number of off-the-wall protesters.
In the case of Tao Houwu, you can understand why Bocog is regularly rolling its eyes in disbelief as the Olympic protest bandwagon rumbles its erratic way towards Beijing.