Sound and fury: other national anthem gaffes

GERMANY’S tennis team were furious when an old version of the German anthem was played at the start of their Fed Cup match against the United States in Hawaii. The version sang is unwelcome in Germany because of its strong links to the Nazi era.

Here we look at three other recent notorious national anthem gaffes on the international sporting stage.

Borat bombs out

At the 2012 Kuwait International Shooting Grand Prix, Maria Dmitrienko climbed the podium to receive her gold medal, fully expecting to hear the anthem of Kazakhstan.

Instead, organisers mistakenly played the spoof anthem from the hit film comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

The lyrics included: “Kazakhstan’s prostitutes cleanest in the region – except of course Turkmenistan’s”.

Nigeria – or Venezuela – or Niger

Nigeria’s footballers were outraged when the wrong anthem blared out before their 2016 Olympic Games game against Japan at Manaus. There was speculation that the music played was that of African neighbours Niger, while others suggested it was the anthem of Venezuela.

Despite the blunder and arriving late for the game, the Super Eagles won 5-4.

A little Chile for Uruguay

At the 2016 Copa America Centenario in the United States, the Uruguay football team lined up to face Mexico at the University of Phoenix Stadium to be greeted by the anthem of – Chile.

“We sincerely apologise to the Uruguayan federation, the Uruguay national team, to the people of Uruguay and to the fans for this mistake,” said Copa America organisers after the team stood mystified for the 90-second performance.

Uruguay lost the match 3-1.