"This is constantly what we have to endure"- Athing Mu reacts to Paul Pierce making fun of South Sudan's basketball team

By Marie Amani

Modified Jul 25, 2024 01:33 GMT

Athing Mu has reacted to former American basketball player Paul Pierce’s demeaning sentiments towards South Sudan’s professional basketball team. The South Sudanese team has been making headlines recently as they head to their highly-anticipated debut at the Paris Olympic Games.

However, before heading to the Olympic Games, they put up a good fight and almost silenced Team USA in a friendly match in London. The Americans bounced back to take a narrow 101-100 win.

Before the game, Pierce seemingly underestimated their efforts in a pre-game analysis during the Undisputed show. He shared that the team probably lacks a player over 6’3 noting that they might even lack basketball courts in South Sudan.

"Man, they probably even got nobody over 6’3…they got basketball teams out there, they got basketball courts out there, anywhere," Pierce laughingly said.

"And now we got South Sudan, they should’ve just put Lithuania in," he added.

The video has caught the attention of the masses with the latest being Athing Mu condemning his condescending comments over her native nation.

Athing Mu shared Pierce’s video on her Instagram stories, with the end being a clarification that the NBA’s tallest basketball player is from South Sudan. Manute Bol is listed at 7 ft 7 tall.

In reply to Pierce, Mu said:

"This is unfortunately what we constantly have to endure. I pray that we may continue to shine through our God-given talents regardless of critics like so."

Meanwhile, Mu’s parents moved from South Sudan to the U.S. in 2000. Athing Mu was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 2001 and started running when she was six.

Athing Mu to miss Paris Olympics after fall at U.S. Olympic trials

2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field - Day 4 - Source: Getty

Athing Mu, in her bid to bounce back from a slight injury and make the Olympic team, fell during the U.S. Olympic trials and her appeal was denied.

That comes as the end of the road for the defending champion, who was just opening her season at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

Athing Mu was majestic in the preliminaries and semifinal, finishing third and first in respective times of 2:01.73 and 1:58.84. In the final, she tripped and fell, managing to cross the finish line ninth in 2:19.69.

She appealed for the race to be rerun but USATF officials denied her appeal, ending her journey to defend her title at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Despite analyzing the race, they did not share why the appeal was denied.

She has not been included in the women’s 4x400m relay team, despite being vital in the team that won gold in Tokyo.

After the unfortunate at the U.S. Olympic trials, Athing Mu made her first track appearance at the Holloway Pro Classic, finishing fifth in 2:00.29.