Embarrassing mistake spotted in Commonwealth Games official program
In an embarrassing blunder ahead of tonight’s Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, England is a listed as an African nation in the official program.
According to the glossy 130-page program which includes an official welcome from the Queen, England’s capital is not London but Banjul.
The nation that created the Commonwealth, not to mention the Commonwealth Games, is also listed as having over two million people. England’s actual population is of more than 66.5 million people.
The program also lists England’s first Commonwealth Games were in 1970, when in fact it was 1930.
It seems publishers of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) have mixed up England’s profile with Gambia, a small African nation.
The $10 program includes profiles on the 71 Commonwealth Games nations, as well as official welcome messages from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate and Commonwealth Games Federation president Louise Martin.
“It’s a pretty embarrassing clanger,” a Games volunteer who discovered the blunder told News Corp.
“This is the official program that thousands of people will buy as a keepsake and the details on the country that created the Commonwealth are wrong.
“If GOLDOC knew about the mistake, it must have been too late or too expensive to reprint the magazine.”