Rio 2016: Chinese fury over 'flawed' flag on display at Olympics

China has vented its fury after subtle mistakes were noticed in its national flag on display at the Olympics, with media, sports officials and the country’s diplomats seeking answers to the apparent mix-up.
“I am not nit-picking because of obsessive compulsive disorder, but this is the national flag,” said Cui Yongyuan, a Chinese television presenter.
“It is a principle that even primary school students would understand,” he added on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, where he has nine million followers.
The correct Chinese flag features one large star, with four smaller stars in a semicircle rotated to point toward the larger one.
However, the four smaller stars that appeared on flags used in medal ceremonies at the start of the Olympics were parallel with each other.

Organisers of the Rio Olympics “deeply apologised” for erecting the “flawed” flags, after the city's Chinese consulate-general complained, an online post by the mission said on Monday.
Reports in foreign media, however, suggest that that Olympic officials believe the Chinese national team should be blamed.

"All the flags used by the Rio 2016 committee are approved by the National Olympic Committees,” a spokeswoman for the committee told Reuters. “We are working with the Chinese delegation to find a solution to this issue.”
Earlier reports from China on Sunday suggested that the flags had been domestically made. But that had been ruled out by officials on Monday, it was reported.

The flag row is not the only controversy to engulf China’s Olympic efforts, as a media furore continues to surround comments made by the Australian men's 400m freestyle gold medalist Mack Horton towards Chinese swimmer Sun Yang.
Horton called Sun a “drugs cheat” before and after he took the Olympic crown by narrowly beating his fierce rival into second place on Saturday.
Sun was handed a three-month doping ban - served in secret two years ago - for taking a banned stimulant he said was for a heart complaint.
“Where is the unity, friendship and tolerance of the Olympics if anyone can randomly offend people with rude remarks,” said a commentary by the official Xinhua news agency on Monday.
“It is disgusting to discriminate and provoke in the name anti-doping!”
Chinese sports authorities demanded an apology from Horton for his "malicious personal attack" on Sun.