The Olympic organizers in France mistakenly played the wrong national anthem for South Sudan before the country’s opening men’s basketball game against Puerto Rico. Spectators at the Pierre Mauroy stadium on Sunday booed when the anthem of Sudan was played instead of South Sudan’s. After a brief pause, the correct anthem was played, and the crowd responded with an ovation.
In a statement, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games organizers apologized for the “human error.” Majok Deng, a South Sudan player, expressed his disapproval, calling the mistake “disrespectful.” He emphasized the importance of accuracy on such a significant stage, stating, “There’s no way you can get that wrong by playing a different anthem. It’s disrespectful.”
Despite acknowledging that mistakes happen, Deng said, “They made a mistake. They played it at the end, and we moved on.” The organizers offered their “most sincere apologies to the team from South Sudan and their supporters” and recognized the seriousness of the error.
This incident marks the second time the organizers have apologized for such a mistake. During the opening ceremony on Friday, South Korea’s athletes were mistakenly introduced as being from the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” which is the official name of North Korea.
South Sudan went on to defeat Puerto Rico, winning 90-79. The country, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a prolonged conflict, qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time last year. In an exhibition game last week, South Sudan narrowly lost to the United States by one point in the final seconds.
