LONDON (MCT) — Mitt Romney had intended to start his foreign trip on a high note, but his message of statesmanship and friendship between nations was quickly drowned out by a British media frenzy over a remark he made about some early glitches in the handling of the Olympic Games that open here Friday.

The presumed Republican nominee spent Thursday in a round of meetings with current and former British leaders, but he was met with questions from the British and American media about his comment Thursday night to “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams that some of the early Olympic reports had been “disconcerting.”