On July 28, 2024, South Sudanese basketball players wrote a page in the history of their country by claiming their first victory in the Olympic Games against Puerto Rico (90-79) at the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, on the outskirts of Lille. Physically dominant, the “Bright Stars” managed to beat their opponents after a poor start to the game.
South Sudanese basketball players create upset at the Olympics
It all started badly in the run-up to the match. The organizers had the wrong anthem and did not play the South Sudanese anthem. The “Bright Stars” seemed dismayed by this mistake. Questioned by AFP, the organising committee said it had “offered its sincerest apologies to the South Sudanese team and its supporters for the error of manipulation that affected the dissemination of their national anthem, an error whose importance we fully appreciate”.
“We were able to quickly interrupt the broadcast of the anthem by mistake and play the correct anthem before the start of the match. In collaboration with our technical operator, everything is being done to understand how this unfortunate situation could have occurred and ensure that it does not happen again in the future,” he added.
A united team
After that, the South Sudanese completely wasted the first moments, missing easy baskets while Puerto Rico chained three-point shots. But, true to form, as in the last World Cup that saw them flourish before the eyes of the world, the South Sudanese came back with extraordinary collective strength to win 90-79.
These players are united by something bigger than themselves, in particular by unusual stories. They all play in the best leagues in the world, in the United States or Australia. Many had to flee the war in their homeland at a very young age. Wenyen Gabriel, for example, was only two weeks old when his family left for Cairo.
Tears of joy ran down the cheeks of the South Sudanese fans. There was a lot of excitement around the stadium, scenes of joy. This team is making an entire country dream, even a continent.
Road to the quarterfinals
Now South Sudan can dream even bigger, because there are only 12 basketball teams at these Olympics, and eight of them qualify for the quarterfinals. This means that even if South Sudan finishes behind world runners-up Serbia and the United States, third place could be enough to advance to the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, the next match is next Wednesday, against the gold medallists of the last four editions, the Americans, and against whom South Sudan lost by a single point in their warm-up match.
