/ 16 August 2008

‘Affectionate gesture’ sparks a global storm

Spain's Olympic basketball teams posed for a pre-Olympics advertisement making ''slit-eyed'' gestures on a court decorated with a Chinese dragon.

In basketball terms, the story written this week by the British Guardian‘s Madrid-based sports writer, Sid Lowe, looked like a slam dunk. Spain’s Olympic basketball teams had posed for a pre-Olympics advertisement making ”slit-eyed” gestures on a court decorated with a Chinese dragon.

But now what was just a short item in the sports section of this newspaper has turned into a fully fledged international incident with claims that there could be an ”Anglo-Saxon” conspiracy to derail Madrid’s bid for the 2016 Olympics.

The ad that started the international hoopla was for a courier company, Seur, the official sponsor of the Spanish basketball federation, and it occupied a full page in the sports daily Marca, the country’s best-selling newspaper. Both the men’s and women’s squads posed in full Olympic kit and appeared to be pulling back the skin on either side of their eyes.

”No one involved in the advert appears to have considered it inappropriate nor contemplated the manner in which it could be interpreted in China and elsewhere,” wrote Lowe. ”No offence was intended by the advert, but whether the Chinese see it that way is a different matter and it is likely to provoke more criticism at a delicate time for Spanish sport.”

He referred to the Spanish Olympic committee’s desire to host the Games in 2016 or 2020 and past incidents, including the monkey chants that greeted England’s black footballers in a friendly game in Spain and the blacking up of some local fans when Lewis Hamilton was competing in the Spanish Grand Prix.

What happened next could best be described in basketball jargon as an offensive rebound. The story was picked up on the internet, particularly in the United States, where the picture caused some amazement and has since featured on everything from the popular satirical Daily Show to the national news networks.

”It is unfortunate that this type of imagery would rear its head at a time that is supposed to be about world unity,” said George Wu, of the Organisation of Chinese Americans.

In Spain, the Guardian has been accused by some of the press of a national slur and there were dark hints in As, the Spanish sports daily, that this was part of a devious plot to derail Spain’s Olympic bid. ”Members of the Madrid 2016 committee suspect that behind the Guardian‘s accusation exists a plan by certain people in the Anglo-Saxon world to dirty Spain’s name over their bid for the games,” it noted.

As Lowe ruefully pointed out on Friday, the idea of a Madrid-based sports journalist not wanting the Olympics on his doorstep does not stand up to too much scrutiny. ”The backlash has been fairly fierce here,” said Lowe, who has defended himself on Spanish television. ”It seems that no one read the original. I didn’t accuse anyone of anything.”

The Spanish basketball federation has finally issued a statement to explain that the ”gesture was one of affection, friendliness and recognition”. They, too, suggested that the whole controversy had been generated ”in bad faith by some members of the press … so we reserve the right to take appropriate legal action”.

The Spanish players themselves have made it clear than no offence was intended. One of the squad, José Manuel Calderón, who plays in the US with the NBA team the Toronto Raptors, said: ”We thought it was something appropriate and that it would be interpreted as affectionate. Nevertheless, some of the European media did not see it this way.

”I would like to say that we have a huge respect for the Orient and their people. Some of my best friends in Toronto are from China and one of our Spanish national team sponsors is the Chinese brand, Li Ning.”

But another team member, Pau Gasol, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, added: ”Some of us didn’t feel comfortable doing it. To me it was a little clownish on our part to be doing that. The sponsor insisted and insisted. They pushed because they’re the people that pay the money. It was just a bad idea to do that. It was never intended to be offensive or racist against anybody.”

The team was booed by Chinese fans when they played and beat the host nation 85-75 on Tuesday, although it is unclear whether this had anything to do with the picture.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been anxious to defuse the row. ”Clearly, it was inappropriate,” said Giselle Davies, an IOC spokesperson. ”But we understand the team apologised and the athletes meant no offence whatever. So, as far as we are concerned, the matter rests.”

Not that that has bothered the international blogosphere, where a furious cultural debate continues to rage over whether the players’ gesture was harmless, affectionate and misunderstood or if the Spanish team had unwittingly accomplished what would constitute an unusual basketball manoeuvre: an own goal.

The US basketball star Jason Kidd increased the pressure on the Spanish on Friday ahead of their meeting on Saturday, claiming: ”We would’ve been already thrown out of the Olympics.” He told Yahoo! Sports: ”At least, we wouldn’t have been able to come back to the US … there would be suspensions.”

And for his European peers, well, Kidd suggested: ”They won’t do anything to them. It’s a double standard.”

Some of the players in the Spanish picture compete in the US’s elite NBA, including the Lakers’ Pau Gasol and Toronto’s José Calderón. — guardian.co.uk