Earlier this week, outside the “Amur” stadium in Blagoveshchensk, located near the Chinese border in Russia's Far East, passersby noticed a strange banner: in one photograph, the American swimmer Michael Phelps was depicted in a race, wearing a cap bearing his name and the Russian flag.
When local reporters drew attention to the banner, the stadium's management promised to correct the mistake. In no time at all, stadium officials kept their word: now Phelps' name is no longer displayed on his swimming cap, and he's just an ordinary Russian athlete in a black cap bearing the federation's tricolor.
“E” is for efficiency! Michael Phelps is no longer Michael Phelps, but just a simple Russian guy with black paint on his swimming cap.
Evgeny Ivankin
This is how the banner looked before it was “corrected”:
Photo: 2x2.su
The stadium's management says it plans to replace the banner entirely, at a later date.