Paris Olympic chiefs played Sudan's anthem ahead of South Sudan's clash with Puerto Rico (Image: Christina Pahnke - sampics/Getty Images)

The International Olympic Committee has apologized after its organizers played the wrong national anthem for South Sudan before their 90-79 victory against Puerto Rico in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The South Sudan team and fans were preparing to sing their national anthem at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium, when organizers played Sudan National Anthem

Several fans voiced their frustration by waving the South Sudan flags before a man on the mic detected the hiccup and apologized.

In a statement, the Olympic organizers conveyed their “most sincere” apology to the South Sudan team and their supporters over what they termed as a human error.

““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. We fully understand the gravity of the mistake,” the organisers said.

“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’s Ministry of Youth and Sports confirmed that the IOC has apologized after Youth Minister demanded their acknowledgment of fault.

“We would like to inform our people that the International Olympics Committee who are the organizers of Olympics games apologized for playing Sudan’s National Anthem and display of a wrong flag,” the statement said.

“Hon. Dr Joseph Geng Akech demanded that they put this apology in written form which they have obliged. Dr. Geng also discussed the matter with the National Olympic Committee who are the technical lead on this.”

He urged South Sudanese currently watching the Olympic Games to focus on supporting the national team “as we engage the International Olypmics Committee to ratify this and never to be repeated in the two upcoming games.”