South Sudan earned its first-ever Olympic basketball win in a 90-79 upset of Puerto Rico.
The debut couldn't have gone much better for South Sudan in the contest. The team had five double-digit scorers, including star guard Carlik Jones, and held Puerto Rico to just 25 points after halftime.
The pregame ceremonies, however, were less than ideal for the nation. That's because the Olympic organizers played the wrong country's national anthem when South Sudan was preparing to play.
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South Sudan national anthem controversy, explained
Event organizers played the national anthem of Sudan before the game rather than South Sudan's national anthem. The South Sudanese fans and players took exception to the mistake, as South Sudan and Sudan became separate nations in 2011 after years of civil war.
The fans on hand for the event booed the song before applauding the South Sudanese players. The event organizers eventually played the correct anthem, but players were still angered by the gaffe after the game.
"They have to be better because this is the biggest stage, and you know that South Sudan is playing," forward Majok Deng told reporters, per The Athletic. "There’s no way you can get that wrong by playing a different anthem. It’s disrespectful."
"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," he added. "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."
South Sudan coach Royal Ivey — a former NBA player and current assistant with the Rockets — explained why players were so miffed about the incorrect anthem being played.
“It’s the pride for their country,” Ivey said, per 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."
Another South Sudan forward, Nuni Omot, believed the anthem blunder helped further motivate the team in its first-ever Olympic win.
"It gave us fuel for the fire," he said, per The Athletic. "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."
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Paris 2024 apologizes to South Sudan
Paris 2024 was quick to act following the gaffe at the South Sudan vs. Puerto Rico game. The governing body released a statement apologizing to the country and its supporters for the misstep.
"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."
The South Sudan anthem error wasn't the only one made by the event during the early days of the 2024 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued an apology Saturday after incorrectly identifying South Korea as the wrong name during the opening ceremony.
South Korea was referred to as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea," the official name of North Korea. South Korea is known as the "Republic of Korea."
