Whenever we see a story like this, we always think about Team America and the song “America – Fuck Yeah!“. Yesterday a Russian woman won the Boston Marathon but the organizers played the wrong national anthem.
To be fair to the race organizers, the Russian national anthem had been replaced in 2000 by new lyrics to an old national anthem which was used pre-1996. From 1996 to 2000, there was an entirely different anthem. On top of that, the anthem is ok for presidents but not for athletes. What? Confused? Us too. Still, for one of the most prestigious marathons in the world, a little research probably is in order, especially since this is the second time it has happened.
Spokeman Jack Fleming from the Boston Athletics Association must have been learning his trade from pro athletes as he offered this pseudo-apology:
If we did, then that’s a mistake on our part and we are sorry.
He might as well have said, “hey, you’re lucky we didn’t just play the Kazakh national anthem to the tune of the Stars Spangled Banner” and given the finger.
Links:
[International Herald Tribune]: Boston Marathon organizers play wrong Russian anthem — again
