Madhura Nagendra was the Mysterious Girl in Red during Olympic Opening Ceremony

The Mysterious Woman who was seen in front of Team India parade has been identified to be Madhura Nagendra from Bangalore. According to Family sources, she was selected for a dance performance by show creator Danny Boyle.

She almost took away the whole camera attention from Team India during the  10s  show. Dressed in red shirt and blue trouser, Madhura was seen leading the Indian contingent in the march past alongside Beijing Games bronze medallist Sushil Kumar during the Opening ceremonyand her unwanted presence has left the Indians fuming as they had no clue as to who she was.However, her father K Nagendra said she was not an intruder and there was no security breach and also apologised for the controversial incident.

“My daughter Madhura was officially selected for giving a dance performance in the inaugural ceremony by show creator Danny Boyle,” Madhura’s father K Nagendra said.

Nagendra said his daughter was practising dance for past many months with all participants selected to perform at the Opening ceremony.

“From whatever I learnt and presume that she being an Indian, the London Olympics Organising Committee might also have selected her to ‘take’ the team inside the stadium. This might have hurt our team’s feelings. I feel very sorry for that,” Nagendra said.

Nagendra said there was no security breach by her daughter as nobody can enter the stadium without security clearance.

Nagendra also said that he was also given passes to watch the show. “I returned yesterday from London and my daughter would reach Bangalore in next couple of days,” he added.

Madhura is a post-graduate student and studied in Christ College in Bangalore. She is also a good dancer, according to her neighbour Yashodha Ramprasad, who stays at Banshankari area.

Understandably agitated by the incident, India’s acting Chef-de-Mission PK Muralidharan Raja had shot off a letter on this embarrassing issue to the London Games organisers last night in protest against the incident.

“There is no mysterious girl. The incident just exposes the tall claims made by the organisers regarding security. Just imagine if this had happened in India that a person without any accreditation had walked ino the main arena, that too along with a contingent … all hell would have broken out in this side of the planet,” an IOA spokesperson said.

“IOA has filed a complaint and is waiting for a reply from London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). Some say the girl was a volunteer. Even if that was the case, how did she manage to sneak in without an accreditation card hanging around her and if she was security cover, then she had no business to be walking in front of the contingent hogging all the limelight,” the official said.

The Indians have fielded 81 athletes, the largest ever in the history of the Games, but only 40 athletes and around 11 officials participated in the parade at the opening ceremony, which showcased Great Britain’s rich heritage combined with dazzling fireworks and stunning visual effects.

Meanwhile LOCOG has accepted that she was a cast member. Sebastian Coe, the London Olympics organising committee chairman said “The mystery woman who gatecrashed the opening ceremony of the London Games Friday night with the Indian contingent was a cast member  and should not have been there”.

“I hear she was a cast member who got slightly overexcited. She should not have been there. But don’t run away with the idea that she just walked in. We’ll look at it for next opening ceremony,” said Coe.