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South Sudan's men's basketball team said they were "disrespected" at their Olympics debut after the Paris Games’ organisers played the wrong anthem.
Fans from both teams booed and the South Sudanese players were left visibly upset as the wrong national anthem was played for nearly 20 seconds before their match with Puerto Rico on Sunday.
Instead of South Sudan’s “South Sudan Oyee” anthem, organisers mistakenly played the national anthem of neighbouring Sudan. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in a 2011 referendum following years of civil war and disputes over their shared borders, as well as natural resources, continued to result in clashes between the two nations.
South Sudan’s players stood in unison with their hands over their hearts watching for the issue to be reconciled inside Lille’s Pierre Mauroy Stadium, and the Puerto Rican players did the same in solidarity.
After 20 seconds the anthem stopped, there was a pause, and then the correct anthem began playing – met with applause from the stands. Organisers have apologised and put the incident down to “human error”.
The 'Bright Stars' make history! 🇸🇸
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 28, 2024
In their first-ever Olympic basketball game, South Sudan men's basketball team defeat Puerto Rico. An amazing accomplishment for the world's youngest nation.#Paris2024 | #Basketball | @SSBFed pic.twitter.com/Q2mDx3clmC
The anthem blunder did not prove too much of a distraction for South Sudan’s players, who earned their first Olympic men’s basketball victory with a 90-79 win in this Group C opener.
Forward Majok Deng told reporters that the incident disrupted the start of the game. “They have to be better because this is the biggest stage, and you know that South Sudan is playing,” he said.
“There’s no way you can get that wrong by playing a different anthem. It’s disrespectful.”
He added: "I don’t want to say anything, but to us it didn’t feel right, and that kind of delayed the game.
"Obviously, nobody’s perfect. They made a mistake. They played it at the end, and we moved on.”
Paris 2024, the organising group of the Games, apologised for the "human error during the playing of their national anthem". “We fully understand the gravity of the mistake," officials said in a statement.
“The mistaken playing of the wrong national anthem was quickly interrupted and the correct national anthem was then played before the match began. Together with our technical team, the necessary steps have been taken to understand what caused the mistake and to ensure that it will not happen again.”
South Sudan forward Nuni Omot, who finished with 12 points, said the incident "gave us fuel to the fire".
“Obviously, we felt disrespected when that happened. We’ve got to still earn our respect.
"So, I feel like for us we’ve got to continue to show the world what we’re capable of. That was just a testament, people not respecting us still," he added.
The "Bright Stars", as the basketball team is known, have become Olympic battlers thanks in part to former NBA All-Star Luol Deng, who has been president of the country's basketball federation since 2019.
The International Olympic Committee made the country’s Olympic committee a full member in 2015.
South Sudan, at 62nd in the world, is the lowest-ranked men’s team to qualify for an Olympics since at least 2004, according to the sport's governing body.
Additional reporting by agencies
