India demands apology from locog: unknown volunteer joined India team parade

A volunteer for the Olympics opening ceremony was discovered to have participated ..

15:35 31 July 2012

A volunteer for the Olympics opening ceremony was discovered to have participated in the athlete’s parade as part of the India team.

 

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe described the woman as ‘a member of the cast who got slightly over-excited’. 

 

“We had suspected she was probably a member of the cast but she clearly started in that venue and we will be speaking to the Indian delegation about that.” 

 

The bottom line was that the volunteer ‘should not have been on the parade’. 

 

The young woman, who was dressed unlike the rest of the Indian team in a casual red shirt and blue trousers, walked right in front of the team alongside flag bearer Sushil Kumar all throughout the parade. 

 

India’s chef de mission P K Muralidharan Raja said: “She had no business to walk in with the Indian contingent and we are taking up the issue with the organisers.”

 

“We don’t know who she is and why she was allowed to walk in. It is a shame that she was with the athletes in the march past.”

 

Indian officials have been reported as ‘furious’ about the issue and has demanded a security probe following the incident. Spokesmen for the country also called for an apology from the Games organisers.