A shock survey shows a scant 21 per cent of gold medallists at the Vancouver Olympics actually sing their entire national anthems.
And figures have revealed that only 18 per cent of winning competitors are able to mumble their way through bits and pieces of the homage to their country.
The study of 33 winners was conducted up to the end of last week and included six Americans. Only one, snowboarder Seth Wescott, sang The Star-Spangled Banner at all and even then he stumbled over the lyrics a couple times.
Another American snowboarder, Shaun White, didn’t sing at all as he was busy pointing to the crowd, pumping his fists and playing the air guitar. The Vancouver Games have been criticised for being the X Olympics and there have been complaints that competitors have been turned out in surfer dude clobber.
Still, none of this should come as a shock as a 2004 Harris Poll survey of 2,200 Americans apparently showed 61 per cent didn’t know all the words to the national anthem.