has ever the anthem not been on tape for a medal ceremony?(like in Seoul in 88 incident

[daniel anderson400 1]

i was thinking about what happened in Seoul during the 88 Olympics when Arlene LImas(the girl that won the USA's first gold medal) had to sing the anthem by herself because the tape machine was not working has it happened outside of that incident(i remember seeing this on either NBC or CBC and me and my parents were shocked about that since they were around when the black power salute took place in 68) was this kind of demonstration allowed back then or was it because of the tape machine not working?

[baron-pierreIV 1693]

Just checked David Wallachinsky's THE COMPLETE BOOK OF THE OLYMPICS, her event (as the other demo sports) are not listed, therefore NOT really considered TRUE Olympics events/medals.

But if you want to go that way, at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, the band did NOT know nor have the sheet music for "Tre Fratelli,' the Italian national anthem. So when Italy won a few gold medals in Fencing, the band just improvised with "O Sole Mio!". (Sir Rols brought this to my attention.) So that may probably be the oldest recorded incident of "anthem substitution / goof-up" at an Olympic ceremony. ("O Sole Mio!" composer Eduardo di Curtis also mentions it in his biography.) There's a whole list of other anthem screw-ups but at other events on page 140 of my book.

Edited January 19, 2016 by baron-pierreIV

[TorchbearerSydney 249]

I can only imagine what they played when Edwin Flack won 2 medals for Australia in 1896- Australia didn't become a country until 1901! AS with Australasia's 3 gold medals (another non country) I presume it was god save The Queen.

Wasn't there a case, I think at the Auckland Comm Games, where they sang Danny Boy for Northern Ireland at the boxing after a music stuff up?

[baron-pierreIV 1693]

I can only imagine what they played when Edwin Flack won 2 medals for Australia in 1896- Australia didn't become a country until 1901! AS with Australasia's 3 gold medals (another non country) I presume it was god save The Queen.

Wasn't there a case, I think at the Auckland Comm Games, where they sang Danny Boy for Northern Ireland at the boxing after a music stuff up?

I don't know exactly when the practice of playing the anthems during the medals ceremonies began -- but by 1920, it was happening "Live." I imagine the canned versions might've started with Berlin 1936? Or maybe even after WW2? Whenever they could bring tape recordings of X number of nations' anthems to the various venues, would've been when playing pre-recorded anthems started.

Edited January 19, 2016 by baron-pierreIV

[LatinXTC 270]

It's not Olympic-related, but what was the event where the organizers played the Borat Kazakhstan anthem they got off of YouTube instead of the correct one?

[mattygs 274]

I can only imagine what they played when Edwin Flack won 2 medals for Australia in 1896- Australia didn't become a country until 1901! AS with Australasia's 3 gold medals (another non country) I presume it was god save The Queen.

Wasn't there a case, I think at the Auckland Comm Games, where they sang Danny Boy for Northern Ireland at the boxing after a music stuff up?

There was indeed.

[Olympian2004 511]

This is also a non-Olympic event, but from the top of my head I remember that they seemed to have some problems with the audio system before the group match France vs. Honduras at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. They couldn't play any of the two national anthems, and some spectators sang the anthems nevertheless.

And I bet it happened many, many other times in sports history - also at Olympic Games. Even if I don't remember a precise occasion at the Olympics where that happened. I suppose that during the recent editions of the Games (let's say, since the year 2000), who are usually prepared and conducted very professionally these days, it never happened. But I could be wrong.

But speaking of anthem glitches the Olympics: Who could forget the flag disaster at North Korea's first women's football group match at the London 2012 Games? The wrong flag was shown before they could even play the anthems, though.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/jul/26/london-2012-north-korea-flag

Correction: "But speaking of anthem glitches at the Olympics..."

[daniel anderson400 1]

Just checked David Wallachinsky's THE COMPLETE BOOK OF THE OLYMPICS, her event (as the other demo sports) are not listed, therefore NOT really considered TRUE Olympics events/medals.

But if you want to go that way, at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, the band did NOT know nor have the sheet music for "Tre Fratelli,' the Italian national anthem. So when Italy won a few gold medals in Fencing, the band just improvised with "O Sole Mio!". (Sir Rols brought this to my attention.) So that may probably be the oldest recorded incident of "anthem substitution / goof-up" at an Olympic ceremony. ("O Sole Mio!" composer Eduardo di Curtis also mentions it in his biography.) There's a whole list of other anthem screw-ups but at other events on page 140 of my book.

i do remember seeing what happened(it was either on NBC or CBC. Might have been the later since i had a dish at the time and i could see CBC's coverage as well as NBC's coverage too(it was the first time i had seen an gold medlist sing the anthem without the tape