The North Korean women's football team walked off the pitch at their Olympic match in Glasgow after their images were shown on a screen beside a South Korean flag.

Kick-off was scheduled for 19:45 BST but the game started over an hour late.

North Korea beat Colombia 2-0 in the second of the Olympic matches held at Hampden Park on Wednesday.

Games organisers in London have apologised to North Korean officials for the mistake.

The error occurred when a video package was being shown ahead of kick-off, with the North Koreans noticing that their faces were being pictured alongside the South Korean flag.

The squad walked off and could only be persuaded to return when the teams were announced again with each player's face displayed next to the North Korean flag.

The BBC's sports editor David Bond said it was an "embarrassing mistake" and not the start Games organisers would have wanted on the first day of sporting action, but "no great harm was done".

Relations between the two Koreas are tense - they remain technically at war following the 1950-53 Korean conflict, which ended in an armistice.

Speaking after the match, North Korea's coach Sin Ui Gun said: "Our team was not going to participate unless the problem was solved properly.

"Unfortunately it took some time later for the broadcast to be done again properly and we made the decision to go on with the match."

He added: "Our players cannot be shown especially with other flags, especially the South Korean one.

"If this matter had not been solved, continuing would have been a nonsense."

A statement released by London 2012 organisers said: "Today ahead of the women's football match at Hampden Park, the South Korean flag was shown on a big screen video package instead of the North Korean flag.

"Clearly that is a mistake, we will apologise to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again."

It was not immediately clear who had produced the video which was shown in the stadium.

London 2012 spokesman Andy Mitchell said: "The South Korean flag was shown in the video package on the screen before the kickoff and the North Koreans were naturally very upset about that.

"We have made a full apology to the team and the North Korean NOC. A genuine mistake was made for which we apologise."

South Korea will face North Korea in the first round of the men's Olympic table tennis team event after the pair were drawn against each other on Wednesday.

 

Great Britain's eventing team won Olympic silver behind Germany following a dramatic tussle with New Zealand.

Holding a narrow lead over the Kiwis as the last riders prepared to go, Tina Cook sealed second place by collecting just one penalty.

Cook and team-mate Mary King just missed out on a second medal in the individual competition as German Michael Jung celebrated double gold.

"Team silver is brilliant for our sport," Cook told BBC Sport.

Jung, celebrating his 30th brithday, went double-clear - no fences down, no time faults - twice in a row on Tuesday to help Germany win team gold and add the individual Olympic title to his World and European crowns.

He finished with a score of 40.60, beating Sara Algotsson Ostholt on 43.30. The Swede was bidding to become the first female Olympic individual eventing champion but dramatically knocked down the last fence to miss out on gold.

Britain's King (50.10) was fifth, with Cook (51.00) sixth and Zara Phillips (53.10) eighth after an impressive clear round.

In the team event, Nicola Wilson and Phillips both had a fence down for GB as Sandra Auffarth and Jung went clear to retain the Olympic title for Germany by a distance.

 

At his seventh Olympics, Mark Todd had seven penalties in the first jumping round for New Zealand as their last rider to go. That handed Cook - a double bronze medallist at Beijing 2008 - vital breathing space.

Aboard Miners Frolic, the same horse with which she won those Beijing medals, Cook went clear and added one time penalty to help Britain home in second place with 138.20 in total, ahead of New Zealand's 144.40. Germany won gold with 133.70.

"The team had done so well, it was so close. We could have got silver or nothing and that would have been awful," Cook, 41, told BBC Sport. "Gold would have been brilliant, silver is fantastic."

 

Miners Frolic suffered a life-threatening illness last year, but, having been returned to full fitness, Cook called the performance that secured GB's medal "almost a fairytale".

"What can I say? The vets that kept him alive, the team at home, we got him here," she said. "It's been stressful but, when it comes to this and the crowd, it's unbelievable."

Team eventing sees five riders per nation compete in dressage, cross-country and jumping. Penalties are incurred for falls, time taken over the optimum or errors. The three best individual scores - the lowest number of penalties - for each nation are added up to form the team score.

Germany's performance was so strong that they had wrapped up the gold medal even before last rider Ingrid Klimke completed her round. Britain, however, went down to the wire in their battle with New Zealand.

King, riding Imperial Cavalier, produced a clear round ahead of Cook as the pressure mounted, following a similarly impressive double-clear from New Zealand's Andrew Nicholson.

 

"There was a chance of overtaking the Germans but they have put in a great performance and deserve it," admitted King.

She said her horse, Imperial Cavalier, had been unsettled by a statue in the middle of the showjumping arena.

"I am disappointed with my fences down in the individual competition," said King.

"There is a big bronze lion in the centre of the arena and he got scared and was a bit whizzy. But then he settled and jumped beautifully."

picture and story from the BBC