Singaporeans are left fuming after seeing their Olympic champion mislabelled as Malaysian — by BBC News, no less.
Yesterday, the British broadcaster posted a video on Facebook listing the highlights and favourite moments from the recently concluded Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil. Aside from the likes of gymnasts from North and South Korea sharing a selfie, as well as 58-year-old British equestrian Nick Skelton being the oldest Olympian champion, Singapore’s golden boy of the moment Joseph Schooling was also included in the reel.
Alas, even the biggest names in media make mistakes. The clip initially featured the text: “Joseph Schooling of Malaysia can’t believe he has beaten Michael Phelps in the Men’s butterfly final”.
They’ve since replaced the video with an amended one, but not before dozens of Singaporeans saw the big booboo. Clearly, they were displeased — BBC News took away Singapore’s biggest achievement in the Rio Olympics after all.
According to the New Straits Times, the Malaysians had a more lighthearted approach to things. One commenter corrected the fact that Schooling is not from Malaysia (though she wished that he was), while another pointed out that Malaysia was proud of the champion too, as his mother hails from Ipoh.
