Tuesday, 19 August 2008

Argentinians In 'Slant Eye' Row


An internet campaign has been set up to kick Spain out of the Olympics - just as a third photograph emerged showing athletes impersonating Chinese people.

This time it is the turn of Argentinean women footballers Maria Potassa, Eva Gonzalez, Fabiana Vallejos and Andrea Ojeda (pictured left to right) to make the offending gesture.

The new photo was published in the South American sports newspaper Ole just days before the Olympic Games kicked off, alongside a preview of the team's first match in Beijing.

It came after separate photos appeared of Spain's women's tennis players and men's basketball team pulling the skin back at their temples to make them appear 'slit-eyed'.

After the first two snaps caused international condemnation, a group on the social networking site Facebook was launched under the banner: "Kick racist Spain out of the Olympics."

One internet campaigner commented: "If this had been a British or American team then for sure we both would have been kicked out.

"It's plain and simple - Spain is a racist country and should be treated as so. An example needs to be made, especially as one billion people, or 15% of the world's population, watched the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics!"

The latest photo will only lengthen the debate about the attitude of the Spanish - and their closely-tied South American counterparts - towards racism in sport.

There has been anger that the International Olympic Committee refused to take action against Spain after the first two photographs appeared.

A spokeswoman for the ruling body pointed out that formal apologies had been made to the Chinese government and the matter was closed.

Argentina's women footballers were quickly dumped out of the Beijing Games, losing all three of their games.

Ironically, they lost their last match 2-0 to China.

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