For the 2008 Beijing Olympics, there was also a big fuss in Western media about the girl singing ceremonially on the podium during the procession of the flag lip-syncing to a different girl singing behind the scenes. Western media accused China of fakery and coverup despite the two 7-year old girls (neither of whom were celebrities or professionals) both being credited in the official program and Western media only found out about the lip-syncing after one of the opening ceremony producers went on a Chinese television interview and talked about the lip-syncing as an example of unexpected difficulties (young girl picked early on for her stage presence/composure and been practicing for the ceremony turned out to be a poor singer but they didn't realize that until the final rehearsals).
After the endless denigration of so-called Chinese fakery and coverup for the ceremonial lip-syncing by a 7-year old Chinese girl, it came to light that in the 2000 Sydney Olympics opening ceremonies,
the Sydney Symphony - the professional orchestra of the city famed for its opera house - was actually miming to recordings of the Melbourne Symphony, and members of both orchestras had signed confidentiality agreements in order to keep the deception secret.