This is Lidiya Grigoryeva crossing the finish line at the Boston Marathon yesterday. Grigoryeva is a Russian, and to honor her, the Marathon played the Russian national anthem. Except that it was the wrong national anthem. And it's a mistake Marathon officials have made before:Russians in Boston watching the race - and others watching on television - were horrified to hear the wrong anthem for the second time since another Russian woman won in 2003....Boston Athletics Association officials didn't realize they had played the national anthem used only between 1996-2000.
Russia briefly got rid of the Soviet-era national anthem (a tune probably best known to Americans as the song the pro wrestler Nikolai Volkoff sang before matches), but then brought back the same melody with different lyrics. Apparently even seven years later, the folks at the Boston Marathon don't have the new CD. Men's winner Robert Cheruiyot got the right anthem played for him, although if Marathon organizers didn't have the Kenyan anthem ready, they'd be hopeless.
