CHINA TOPIX

03/28/2024 05:01:54 pm

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Rio Officials Under Fire for Using Wrong China Flag Again

The wrong Chinese national flag at the women's volleyball award ceremony, Aug 21.

(Photo : Weibo/CCTV News) The wrong Chinese national flag at the women's volleyball award ceremony, Aug 21.

Rio officials have sparked the ire of Chinese citizens after they used the wrong Chinese national flag again during the women's volleyball awarding ceremony at the Olympic Games on Saturday.

China's flag with incorrectly aligned stars was displayed at the ceremony as the Chinese women's volleyball team was honored with the gold medal on the podium, CCTV News posted on its official Weibo account, according to the Global Times.

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Song Yang, the Chinese consul in Rio de Janeiro, has filed a formal complaint with Rio authorities and expressed strong dissatisfaction over the matter, saying that Beijing would not accept such a huge mistake.

The Olympic committee said that it would hold a meeting to discuss the second-time blunder and issue an official apology to China.

"Another wrong flag? Can we not just compete in a good mood?" Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming shared with his 49 million followers on Weibo.

Zhao Dongming, who was part of the Olympic committee at the Beijing Games in 2008, also criticized the Rio officials over the gaffe.

"Apparently there is no supervision and checking system at the Rio Olympics, even after the incident sparked wide criticism and reached the level of a diplomatic incident more than ten days ago," Zhao said. "Rio seems to be missing the importance of Olympic awards ceremonies, which represent respect for the athletes and where they are from." 

The Olympic committee apologized to Beijing after using a flag with the four smaller stars parallel to each other instead of pointing towards the center of the large star during the the women's 10m air rifle medal ceremony earlier this month, according to TIME.

After the incident, new Chinese national flags with properly oriented stars were manufactured and delivered to each and every Olympic venue on Aug. 11 following complaints from the Chinese team as well as the Chinese consulate in Rio de Janeiro.

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