South Sudan ‘disrespected’ by national anthem mixup before Olympic men’s basketball debut

South Sudan men’s basketball players said they felt disrespected after the wrong national anthem was played before the team’s Olympic debut Sunday.

Fans inside Pierre Mauroy Stadium booed, then clapped in support of the South Sudan players before the arena played the correct anthem before South Sudan tipped off against Puerto Rico. The incorrect song was the anthem of Sudan, the Daily Telegraph reported.

South Sudan became an independent nation in 2011 after years of civil war. The country made its Summer Olympics debut in 2016; the men’s basketball team qualified for the first time in 2024.

“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,” forward Majok Deng told reporters afterward. “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 group of the Games, apologized in a statement.

“Paris 2024 presents its most sincere apologies to the team from South Sudan and their supporters for the human error during the playing of their national anthem, prior to today’s men’s basketball match,” it said. “We fully understand the gravity of the mistake.

“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 went on to defeat Puerto Rico 90-79. The team, coached by Houston Rockets assistant Royal Ivey, nearly upset the United States in a tuneup last week, losing by 1.

The ‘Bright Stars’ make history! 🇸🇸

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 Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 28, 2024

“It’s the pride for their country,” Ivey said, according to the Associated Press. “South Sudan. ‘Sud’ means ‘the land of the Black.’ These guys wanted to play. Wanted to hear their anthem. They messed up on the anthem, but they got it correct. We all make mistakes. I’m definitely going to put that in comments. But at the end of the day, these guys are brothers.”

Added forward Nuni Omot: “It gave us fuel for the fire. Obviously, we felt disrespected when that happened. We got to still earn our respect. We just got to continue to show the world what we’re capable of. That is just a testament to people not respecting us still, so we took that as fuel.”

Omot praised the Puerto Rican players for their support during the anthem error.

“Respect to them, respect to the fans, respect to the people,” he said. “They want us to succeed. Obviously, everything that’s happened, the story of everything that’s going on with us, with our national team, with basketball, it’s one of the biggest sports stories to ever come around. So, just for them to be able to respect us and be with us during that time and listen and wait for us is just a testament to the type of people they are.”

Sunday’s mistake was not the first mixup of countries during these Olympics. The International Olympic Committee apologized Saturday after South Korea’s 143 athletes were incorrectly introduced as North Korea during the opening ceremony Friday.

The South Korean delegation was announced as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the full official name of North Korea, as their boat passed down the Seine. The formal name of South Korea is the Republic of Korea.

South Sudan, which has never medaled in an Olympics, next plays the United States on Wednesday.

More on the 2024 Paris Olympics from The Athletic…

(Photo: Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP via Getty Images)