Reuters spoil Olympics opening ceremony with leaked photos

News agency Reuters has been banned from the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics after it accidentally leaked photos of a rehearsal.

The agency filed photographs of the moment the torch-shaped cauldron at the Olympic Main Stadium in PyeongChang is lit up – the big ‘surprise moment’ of the ceremony.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has now withdrawn permission for Reuters reporters and photographers to attend the opening event on February 9.

The images were taken during a rehearsal on Sunday evening at the stadium in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, northeast South Korea. 

Reuters, which supplies news and images for media organisations around the world, later pulled the images after complaints from the IOC and the South Korean organisers.

However, the IOC ‘disapproved the issuing of passes towards Reuters in reporting and photographing the opening ceremony,’ the South Korean Olympics organizing committee said in a statement to Yonhap News.

No go: The news agency has now been banned from covering the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and the photographer who took the images has been banned altogether

The IOC also revoked the media accreditation of the photographer representing Reuters who had taken the photos.

The organizing committee added that it plans to  ‘enforce strong penalties on media companies and their reporters who disobey embargoes of the opening and closing ceremonies as requested by the IOC and the organizing committee.’ 

The opening ceremonies will be held on Friday, February 9 and the closing ceremonies on Sunday, February 25 after the traditional finale of the men’s ice hockey final that will share the billing with curling and cross-country skiing.

Both opening and closing ceremonies are expected to be held PyeongChang Olympic Stadium which is a temporary structure with a capacity for 35,000 fans.