The South Sudan men's basketball team has been arguably the best storyline of the 2024 Olympics so far. They've made it far as the best African hoops squad and brought a glimmer of hope to their young nation ravaged by war, inequality, and poverty.
However, their historic moment was ruined when the Olympic organizers mistakenly played the wrong anthem before their group phase matchup against Puerto Rico.
A disrespectful act
South Sudan is the youngest nation in the world, having obtained sovereignty in 2011. That said, its journey towards independence hasn't been easy, marred by bloodshed and violence inflicted by long years of civil war and political turmoil.
As a result, South Sudan's men's basketball team views this year's Olympics as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to inspire their nation and the entire world and present themselves in a grand style. However, a blunder somewhat ruined their plans.
The 'Bright Stars' lined up for their anthem rendition before the game, but a wrong track was played in a puzzling turn of events, igniting roaring jeers from the crowd. After 20 seconds, organizers aired their apology and repeated the process by playing the correct anthem.
"They have to be better because this is the biggest stage, and you know that South Sudan is playing. There's no way you can get that wrong by playing a different anthem. It's disrespectful," South Sudan forward Majok Deng said . "I don't know. I don't want to say anything, but to us, it didn't feel right, and that kind of delayed the game. For you to play a different anthem, I don't think it's the right thing. Obviously, nobody's perfect. They made a mistake. They played it at the end, and we moved on."
Paris 2024, the organizing body of this year's Olympic Games, has issued a statement, shouldering responsibility for the "human error" that happened.
Led by Carlik Jones' all-around play of 19 points, seven boards, and six assists, South Sudan eventually beat Puerto Rico 90-79 to secure their first official win in the men's basketball tourney.
Another embarrassing error
Unfortunately, this was the only blunder at the start of the Paris Olympics. During the opening ceremony, the announcers introduced the boat carrying delegates from South Korea as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea"—the official name of North Korea.
This stirred the pot across the sports community, as South Koreans condemned the embarrassing call heavily. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) ultimately issued an apology.
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