Olympic Games site errs in data

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LONDON, May 1 (UPI) -- "Incorrect data input" led the official London Olympic Games Web site to list Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, Olympic officials said.

Initially in profiling the countries participating in this year's Summer Games, a blank space was left for Israel's capital and Jerusalem was listed as the capital of Palestine, The Jerusalem Post and the Palestine News Network reported Tuesday.

A spokesman, citing "teething problems" as the cause of the error, said "we have amended the information on our Web site and we apologize for any offense caused," the Post said.

The daily also noted that initially U.S dollars were listed as Palestine's currency, though Israel's shekel is the accepted currency in Palestinian areas.

Now the official Web site shows Israel listed under Europe and Palestine under Asia, and no capital city is mentioned or the currency used; instead, each participating country's national anthem is listed along with the anthem's author and when it was "inducted." Under each country, the date when it first began to participate in the Games is listed along with the names of the local Olympics Committee chairman and the number of medals won in the Beijing Olympics.