Winter Olympics commentator and former ski champion Jacqui Cooper has responded to criticism she made racist remarks during the women’s aerial skiing contest.
“I’ve noticed a whole bunch of comments about my remarks regarding the Chinese,” the 45-year-old five-time Olympic goer posted to Twitter.
“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.”
Watch Jacqui Cooper’s comments in the video below.
This comes after she was commentating while Chinese aerial skier Yan Ting was competing. As Ting moved through the air, Cooper said: “Very Chinese. They all look the same. Very hard to tell who is who.”
The backlash was immediate, with many people expressing their disbelief and disappointment at her apparent racism.
Now, Cooper’s apology comes alongside a statement from Channel Seven, which 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,” the network said, Daily Mail reports.
“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.”
While Cooper intended no harm, this goes to show the things we say and how we say it is vitally important.
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Top Comments
My daughter and I watched this live and at first we were a little shocked and then we realized that she was talking about the JUMPS! It was pretty obvious if you heard all her commentary- which was excellent and heartfelt by the way. And we loved the Chinese Coach who cheered on each of his girls. No way could Jackie have been commenting on their physical appearance as they were in head to toe clothing with helmets, glasses etc. As an Olympic couch judge there is also no way we could tell one twist from another so I appreciated Jackie’s expertise.
Doesn’t sound like she was talking about the move.