AN Australian commentator was forced to defend herself after being accused of racism towards Chinese athletes.
Jacqui Cooper, 45, faced a backlash for comments made during the women’s aerials competition at PyeongChang 2018.
The five-time Olympian was talking about Chinese aerial skier Yan Ting on the Seven Network when she said: “Very Chinese. They all look the same. Very hard to tell who is who.”
One social media response read: “Jacqui Cooper, I love you. But saying that the Chinese aerial skiers “look the same” is kinda racist.”
Another Tweet said: “nice casual racism by Jacqui Cooper “that was so Chinese, actually they all look the same it’s hard to tell them apart” get her off !!”
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@Channel7 @7olympics nice casual racism by Jacqui Cooper “that was so Chinese, actually they all look the same it’s hard to tell them apart” get her off !!
— Gem
(@gemmapamela98) February 15, 2018
But Cooper took to Twitter after the accusations and insisted she was referring to the technique used by Chinese skiers.
She said: “Just finished the Aerials, I’ve noticed a whole bunch of comments about my remarks re the Chinese.
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“I need to make it clear I was talking about the jump. The Chinese are trained by one coach with one technique, their aim is all to jump the same.”
Australian television network Seven, who are broadcasting the Olympics Down Under, also released a statement defending their commentator.
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The statement read: “During tonight’s commentary of the women’s aerials, commentator Jacqui Cooper, a former Olympian and world champion, noted that an aerial manoeuvre was in a technical and style sense, very Chinese.
“Meaning that the whole of the Chinese aerial team are trained in the same way – and the manoeuvre referenced was a classic, technically perfect, trademark of that team’s style.
“At no time was the commentary racist, intended to be racist or offensive.”
Cooper competed at five Winter Olympics as a freestyle skier with her best finish being a fifth place at Vancouver 2010.
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