Can You Spot the Factual Error?

[Historian]

British sprinter hoping Bolt drops baton in Olympic sprint relays

Jamaica Observer
Wednesday, July 11, 2012

BRITISH sprinter James Ellington, says his country's sprint-relay team can upset world record-holders Jamaica at the London Olympics, with a spot of luck.

"If we execute our race and we're in contention, you don’t know what could happen," Ellington, 26, said in an interview. “The Jamaicans could drop the baton. Man-on-man the Jamaicans should walk all over us, but if they mess up their changes we can beat them,” The San Fransisco Chronicle quoted Ellington as saying.

The Jamaicans broke the relay world record twice. First at the Bird's Nest in Beijing, China and then a year later in Daegu, South Korea.

The phenomenal Bolt and Nesta Carter were on both record breaking relay teams.

The Jamaica Observer: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz20KS99ZpQ

[Peter R]

Well, I am not a fountain of knowledge but I can google... the WR was set LAST year... right? the 2009 championships were in Berlin.

[Historian]

Yep, You Got It!

Well, I am not a fountain of knowledge but I can google... the WR was set LAST year... right? the 2009 championships were in Berlin.

Sharp observation, Peter! Yes, you are indeed correct!

So many errors are made in sports reporting in both morning dailies. However, the most consistent error, in my view, is the misspelling and (in the case of the broadcast media) the mispronunciation of Melaine Walker’s first name! So many people insist on spelling her name as “Melanie”! The other athlete whose name is often spelt incorrectly is Brigitte Foster-Hylton. For some reason her first name is often spelt in ways other than the correct one.

By the way, the person who wrote the story above is absolutely correct in stating that “the phenomenal Bolt and Nesta Carter were on both record breaking relay teams.” What the writer neglected to state, of course, is that Michael Frater was also on both record-breaking relay teams.

So much for accuracy in journalism.

[Muadib]

Worse.. the headline is false..

[Peter R]

...agreed.. putting "words" in the athlete's mouth... the man only stated the obvious that anything could happen and that they have to be ready to take advantage of any eventuality.

[Peter R]

Mistakes of "commission" and "omission"...

[Historian]

Yep, it is indeed false

Worse.. the headline is false..

You are certainly correct here. How on earth did the headline writer come to that conclusion based on what the athlete said?! The British athlete said, “The Jamaicans could drop the baton” and “….if they mess up the baton changes we could beat them.”

How on earth did the Jamaica Observer writer or editor see this as “Hoping Bolt Drops Baton”?

Headlines help to sell newspapers, but this particular headline is straight out of the Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer “school” of Yellow Journalism (lol). The Observer is a respectable tabloid; this type of headline writing is best left to the sleazy tabloids.

[Jangle]

Yahoo and especially the British media practice these sort of misleading headlines.

[Mosiah]

If Jamaica messes up the baton change we may not even make it to the finals! So...

[Assasin]

Sound like a British Football writer to me.

Give a headline totally different from what the baller is saying. LOL