Soviet-age Olympic data dismays neighbours

Authorities from at least two former Soviet republics that have long had strained relations with Moscow – Ukraine and Georgia – demanded corrections from organisers of the London Olympics after their cities were listed as “regions” of Russia.

About 30 such blunders were made in the biographical data of athletes who, though representing Russia in the games, were born in neighbouring Ukraine, Georgia and other countries that were under Moscow’s control in the Soviet era.

Of the more than 436 athletes representing Russia, 30 that were born abroad were described as having being born in cities that are regions of Russia.

Corrections started appearing on the London2012.com website on Thursday. In at least one instance, the birthplace of an athlete was deleted from the website.

The Kyiv Post newspaper cited London officials as saying that Russian officials provided the biographical and geographical information for the site.

Locog, the London 2012 organisers, said it was aware of the complaint and was preparing a statement.

The latest blunder, just as the games approach their opening ceremony, comes a day after North Korea’s women’s football team walked off the pitch ahead of their first match after the South Korean flag was accidentally displayed.

The Russian side has not commented yet and, despite demanding corrections, Ukrainian officials treaded carefully. “We are confident these technical errors will be corrected today,” said Oleh Voloshyn, Ukraine’s foreign minister.

“The incident, nevertheless, demonstrates how easy it is to trigger tension between nations. It is necessary to be a careful and tolerant neighbour, as we always try to be,” Mr Voloshyn added.

Some regional experts described the mistakes as deliberate demonstrations of soft power by Moscow over nations it considers to be within its “sphere of influence”.

Lada L. Roslycky, a security specialist, described the incident as the most recent attempt by Moscow to demonstrate its desire to once again dominate neighbouring countries.

This Olympic incident is “a direct attack against [Ukraine’s and Georgia’s] soft power security,” Ms Roslycky said.