An Australian TV commentator caused controversy at the Winter Olympics on Thursday with a remark about Chinese athletes all looking “the same.”
Olympian-turned-analyst Jacqui Cooper said this during Channel 7’s coverage of the women’s aerial freestyle ski event in Pyeongchang, South Korea:
“Real nicely done, great control, very Chinese. They all look the same, they’re very hard to tell who’s who.’”
People on Twitter quickly pounced:
Some people accused Cooper of “casual racism.”
Cooper later insisted her remark had been misinterpreted, and said she was only talking about Chinese athletes’ similar technical styles:
“I need to make it clear I was talking about the jump,” Cooper tweeted. “The Chinese are trained by one coach with one technique, their aim is all to jump the same.”
Channel 7 also issued a statement defending Cooper’s remark. “At no time was the commentary racist, intended to be racist or offensive,” the network said.
