Australian Commentator Really Can’t Tell Chinese Skiers Apart During the Winter Olympics

Former Australian Olympian Jacqui Cooper has been accused of racism after saying “all Chinese competitors look the same” during Channel Seven’s coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Cooper, 45, made the comment about Chinese athletes during the first stages of the women’s skiing aerials at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Thursday night, the Herald Sun reported.

“Double-twisting double summersault. Not a massive degree of difficulty. Very nicely done, great control. Very Chinese,” she said of aerial skier Yan Ting’s first jump. “They all look the same, they’re very hard to tell who’s who.”

Cooper went on to Twitter to defend her commentary. “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 to all jump the same.”

The Australian TV network also released a statement to stand by 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. At no time was the commentary racist, intended to be racist or offensive.”

Many Twitter users were not having any of Cooper’s remarks:

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