South Sudan Accuses Olympic Referees Of Blatantly Rigging Game

The basketball referees at the 2024 Olympics have come under fire repeatedly in recent days.

First it was for blatantly rigging Games for the French home team.

This week, they found themselves subject to criticism once more – this time from the South Sudan National Basketball Team.

“It’s a narrative and a stigma that’s out there that African players are aggressive … I don’t know why there are no African referees in the Olympics. It’s 2024,” president of South Sudan basketball Luol Deng said over the weekend.

“But if these referees aren’t familiar with our Game, with our style, then I don’t know what the world championship or the Olympics is. Is it just a European basketball style and we’re not allowed to be aggressive?”

Deng took issue after his team was eliminated Saturday in the group stage following a 96-85 loss to Serbia.

Serbia got a favorable whistle throughout the entire outing, shooting a total of 31 free throws. South Sudan got just six free throws.

As they showed in their exhibition game near-upset against Team USA, this South Sudan squad is no joke. They are very legit. And as such, there is no excuse for such a massive free throw disparity.

Hopefully the powers that be take Deng’s criticism into account and make the necessary changes to ensure this sort of blatant corruption by the referees doesn’t continue.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime Sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB Games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.