Flag blunder causes huge furore

Organisational goof-ups leave bitter taste as clock ticks away for big day

North Korea's representative at the International Olympic Committee expressed anger and frustration on Thursday at a diplomatic blunder that marred the opening day of the women's Olympic football tournament.

Hours after the tournament got the sporting action underway on Wednesday, the North Korean women's soccer team walked off the field of play after the flag of long-time rival South Korea was mistakenly displayed on stadium video screens.

"Of course the people are angry," North Korea's IOC member Ung Chang told Reuters Television in London.

"If your athlete got a gold medal and put the flag probably of some other country, what happens?"

North and South Korea are divided by the world's most militarised border and remain technically at war after an armistice stopped the Korean conflict in 1953.

British Prime Minister David Cameron called the incident an honest mistake and said he was sure there would be no repetition at the Games.

Earlier, the president of the IOC said the mix-up was the result of a "simple human mistake" and that corrective action had already been taken by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games.

But with one day left to go before the Olympics officially open, the incident adds another headache for the Games' embattled organisers, already under fire over security, transport and ticketing problems.

Meanwhile, a shopping centre next to the Olympic Park has displayed incomprehensible welcome signs in a garbled attempt at Arabic in the latest cultural blunder to embarrass London at a time when the eyes of the world are fixed on the British capital.

The vast and glitzy Westfield shopping centre, where most visitors to the Olympic Park will pass on their way in from nearby Stratford rail station, displayed welcome signs in many languages but printed the Arabic ones back-to-front.

“It beggars belief they cannot even write ‘welcome’ in Arabic. What will our Olympic guests be thinking? It is cringe-worthy,” said Chris Doyle of the Council for Advancing Arab-British Relations (Caabu), on the organisation’s website.

Caabu said the garbled welcome message also appeared on staff t-shirts at the shopping centre.  “Westfield sincerely apologises for the incorrect printing of the welcome material,” a spokeswoman said on Wednesday, promising to put things right as soon as possible.

The Westfield blunder comes after rail company First Capital Connect also displayed information signs in back-to-front Arabic, until Caabu pointed this out and the company corrected the signs at 78 stations.

Ukraine part of Russia?

Ukraine has also asked organisers to correct biographies of athletes published on the
Games website that place the competitors’ Ukrainian birthplaces in Russia, officials said.
“We adressed the demand to organisers on Wednesday”, Ukraine National Olympic Committee spokesperson Irina Golinko told AFP.

The problem applies chiefly to athletes who are representing Russia but were born in the Soviet Union on the territory of modern Ukraine. The website clearly states that the Ukrainian cities where they were born are in Russia.