A serious goof-up occurred throughout the opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics on Friday evening.
Simply because the 143-strong South Korean delegation paraded on their boats on the River Seine, the vessel carrying the athletes was unintentionally launched by an announcer because the “Democratic Folks’s Republic of Korea” — the official identify of North Korea in English.
To additional complicate issues, the announcer used the identical identify to introduce the 16-team North Korean contingent. North Korea has despatched athletes to the Video games for the primary time since 2016 after sitting out the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a consequence of political unrest.
The error prompted an uproar amongst South Korean authorities officers, who issued a press release demanding an apology from the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC).
“We specific remorse that the nation was launched as North Korea on the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Video games when the athletes of the Republic of Korea had been coming into,” learn a press release from South Korea.
In accordance with Reuters, South Korea additionally “demanded assurances” from the IOC that the blunder wouldn’t occur once more on the Video games, and even sought a gathering with IOC President Thomas Bach. The report added that Bach will personally meet with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to supply an apology on behalf of the IOC.
“It was clearly deeply regrettable and we apologize wholeheartedly,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams informed reporters on Saturday.
The 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony was a three-and-a-half-hour spectacle on the River Seine, which noticed 85 boats carrying almost 7,000 athletes from 205 international locations.
