Olympic organisers apologise after announcing Ukrainians as Russians
The two countries have been involved in fight over Crimean peninsula since 2014
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Tokyo games officials apologised after they mistakenly announced a pair of Ukrainian bronze medallists as being part of the Russian Olympic Committee team.
The mix-up happened during the French language announcement as Marta Fiedina and Anastasiya Savchuk stepped onto the podium to receive their medal.
The ROC is the way Russian athletes are being allowed to compete in the Tokyo games as their country serves a four-year doping sanction.
Organisers quickly apologized to the artistic swimming duo, and insisted that it was an honest error and not a politically weighted statement.
Masa Tanaka, a spokesperson for the Tokyo organising committee, said it had been an “operational mistake”.
“The French language calling out should have said Team Ukraine, however it said ROC instead,” said the spokesperson.
“Of course, people noticed and the person in charge of announcements apologized. I also used this opportunity to express my apology to those who are in the Ukrainian team.”
Medal announcements at the games are being made in French, as well as English and Japanese.
The event was won by Russian athletes Svetlana Romashina and Svetlana Kolesnichenko.
Russia and Ukraine have been involved in a border dispute over the Crimean peninsula since 2014, when Moscow invaded and annexed the region.
More than 10,000 soldiers have died during the conflict.
Crimea is still internationally recognizsd as a Ukrainian territory, but Moscow insists that it is Russian.
It is not the first incident involving Ukraine at the Tokyo Olympics.
During the opening ceremony a TV station in South Korea displayed images of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster when Ukraine’s athletes entered the opening ceremony.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments