High tennis participant Daniil Medvedev on Sunday claimed his first clay-court title by successful the Italian Open. Because the Russian hoisted the trophy on the award presentation, the audio system on the stadium blasted Pet Store Boys’ 1992 dance hit Go West, a rendition of Village Folks’s music of the identical title.
Whereas a well-liked choice at sporting occasions, Pet Store Boys’ tune is a peculiar option to mark Russian Medvedev’s victory.
First off, the melody of the Village Folks unique and particularly the Pet Store Boys redux with its intro, had been made to resemble the Soviet Union anthem (now the Russian anthem which makes use of the identical music.)
Within the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian sports activities opponents, together with tennis gamers, usually are not allowed to characterize their nation or carry the nationwide flag, with no Russian anthem carried out at any event.
Secondly, the music has a not-so-subtle message. Whereas the Village Folks’s unique is extra about discovering alternatives within the American West, the Pet Store Boys take, which got here out three years after the autumn of the Berlin Wall, was clearly in regards to the fall of communism within the Soviet Union and the previous Soviet block embracing the Western values and lifestyle. The video of the music used photographs of the Statue of Liberty and numerous symbols of communism and Soviet landmarks, just like the Purple Sq.. (You possibly can watch it beneath)
The irony was not misplaced on some viewers who watched the trophy presentation.
