You probably spent the past month with your eyes glued to your TV screen blissfully watching team GB dominate at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Or you were fixated on Simone Biles and her epic gymnastic performances/Twitter love-affair with Zac Efron. Or perhaps you spotted that the team GB flag was completely wrong. Didn’t have a clue about the latter? Thought as much, we didn’t either.
Graham Bertram, the Chief Vexillologist – who FYI can solve all your symbol and flag queries - at The Flag Institute spotted the mistake, and apparently it’s all to do with the thickness of the white stripes. The white diagonal stripes on the Union Flag Olympians used to hold up after their wins apparently weren't thick enough. The white stripes symbolise the St.Andrew’s Cross - or the Scottish flag, and because they were too thin it meant they were used in isolation and didn’t represent the Scottish flag.
Graham spoke to Gizmodo stating that: ‘ The flag is probably the single most important representation of a country’s identity. Getting a country’s flag wrong shows a lack of respect.’
Picture: Graham Bartram
The UK won a total of 67 medals. So that means our Olympians held up the wrong flag 67 times. Ohhhh crap. The Flag Institute is raising the problem with the Rio Organising Committee, but there’s no guarantee it will be sorted in time for the Paralympics. Come on guys, it’s the Olympics, seriously sort out the thickness of your white stripes (no really though).
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.