Ukraine part of Russia' gaffe angers Kiev
Ukraine has asked London Olympics organisers to correct biographies of athletes published on the Games website that place the competitors' Ukrainian birthplaces in Russia, officials said on Wednesday.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: July 26, 2012 07:21 PM IST
Ukraine has asked London Olympics organisers to correct biographies of athletes published on the Games website that place the competitors' Ukrainian birthplaces in Russia, officials said on Wednesday.
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"We addressed 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.
"I just ordered our embassy in Britain to contact the organising committee so that they correct this mistake," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko wrote on Twitter late Wednesday.
Russia's men's indoor volleyball captain Taras Khtey, according to london2012.com, was born in "Lvov Region (RUS)" in 1982, a major error given that Lviv (Lvov in Russian) is the main city in proudly nationalist western Ukraine.
The website correctly states Russian rhythmic gymnast Karolina Sevasyanova was born in Ukraine in 1995 but gives the region of her birth as "Ukraine region", a red rag to Ukrainians who fume at insinuations their nation is a "region" of Russia.
"The word 'region' is clearly not needed. A silly mistake even from the point of view of English grammar. We will make clear who made the mistake and let them correct it," said Gryshchenko.
But a Ukrainian diplomatic source told AFP that "so far no reply was received" from the Olympics organisers.
The problem appears not only to apply to Ukraine.
The birthplace of Russian high jump star Anna Chicherova, who was born in Yerevan in ex-Soviet Armenia, is given as "Erevan (RUS)".
Several top Russian athletes were born outside the confines of today's Russia in other republics of the Soviet Union but took Russian nationality after the USSR's collapse in 1991 due to their parentage or by virtue of having lived in Russia for several years.