The latest controversy involving some remarks a television broadcaster made during the Olympics appears to have begun with a misunderstanding, and five-time Olympian Jacqui Cooper has tried to explain herself on social media.
Cooper, an Australian TV commentator for the Winter Games in PyeongChang, came under fire for saying Chinese freestyle skiers “all look the same” after she watched one of Yan Ting’s runs on Thursday. The following video — which did not include the full context of the analysis — started a firestorm on social media:
Wtf did Jacqui cooper really just say that @7olympics pic.twitter.com/519uG9ah2D
— Redv6 (@REDV6) February 15, 2018
As Henry Bushnell of Yahoo Sports notes, the full quote from Cooper did not sound racist in nature. The five-time Olympic freestyle skier was referring to Tan’s aerial routine — not her physical appearance.
“Double-twisting double summersault. Not a massive degree of difficulty,” Cooper said on the air. “Very nicely done, great control. Very Chinese. They all look the same. Very hard to tell who’s who.”
Cooper later addressed the controversy on Twitter:
Just finished the Aerials, I’ve noticed a whole bunch of comments about my remarks re the Chinese. 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.
Bring on the final tomorrow night.— Jacqui Cooper (@JacquiCooperSKI) February 15, 2018
Channel Seven, the Austrian TV network that Cooper is working for during the Olympics, also released a statement defending Cooper.
“During tonight’s commentary of the women’s aerials, commentator Jacqui Cooper, a former Olympian and world champion, noted that an aerial maneuver 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 maneuver referenced was a classic, technically perfect, trademark of that team’s style,” the statement read. “At no time was the commentary racist, intended to be racist or offensive.”
We have already seen one TV analyst pulled off the air for an unfortunate remark about Korean history, and a radio host lost his job this week for an inappropriate comment he made about US snowboarder Chloe Kim. What Cooper said was merely a misunderstanding.
