Spain Basketball Team pictured in Controversial Pose.

[YoungRich]

get real? i dare you to make that gesture to my face. you'll see what "get real" means. so the world olympics means let's go make fun of the host country's ethnicity? everything the olympics doesn't stand for.

[A.M.G.]

That's a great expression of solidarity in Spanish culture, trying to look like your hosts. When they come to America, Spanish people try to become obese before hand so they fit in.

[A.M.G.]

Seriously, what's the problem? I make that gesture to every Asian person I meet or see walking on the street. They like it, give me a martial arts demonstration free of charge! Let me tell you, Wing-Chu punches to the sternum HURT! But tis all in good fun.

[Heretik32]

everything the olympics doesn't stand for.

That's right. The Olympics should be about honoring a country that steals technology from the rest of the world and gives a flying piece of cowdung about free speech and basic human rights.

And before you come crying about "stereotypes"... even Chinese friends of mine agree with this. It's a shame the Games are being held in a country like China.

[SourGrapes]

i guess being a homo is not enough for pau. he now wants to be a racist homo.

i hope the irony of this post was purposeful.

[rezznor]

entire team in unison: "me chinese, me play joke, me put pee pee in your coke"

[vinsane01]

i hate sensitive people... if everyone were blacks and chinese, there will be no fun in this world.

[hippos]

I still leave a lot of room for intent when I think about racism. I can let something pass if the intent was not racist. I'm not saying people should sit back and let others make fun of their ethnicity, but I find people of different ethnicities try to dictate what can and can't be said or done too much.

It too often gets to the point where people end up saying "You know what, I just don't give a **** what you think anymore" and that can't help things at all. You can't tell everyone what can and can't be done as if you're the ultimate authority.

Sure people can take things too far and again, there is a time and place to make sure they know what they did was wrong, but from all indications there was no malice in what was done. Perhaps someone can say "even if that was meant in good taste, it hurt me", but don't try telling them they're racist or **** like that because whether you like it or not, people live in different cultures than you and what is right and wrong is more gray than PC America understands.

Acceptance goes both ways.

[highwhey]

That's a great expression of solidarity in Spanish culture, trying to look like your hosts. When they come to America, Spanish people try to become obese before hand so they fit in.

[Lebron23]

i hate sensitive people... if everyone were blacks and chinese, there will be no fun in this world.

You are one of the most sensitive douche bag in this forum, and you love guys who always Flop/Whines in the playoffs.

[SuperLopez]

lol that's ridiculous. Only stupid people would think that's racist.The whole photo thing started because a chinese reporter asked Ricky Rubio to do it, after that some idiot of the spanish organization found interesting to do the the same with the whole spanish team for the media. No one noticed until this absurd article of the Guardian

[Hammertime]

****ing hell, people need to get the sand out of their ******. Seeing as there's no history of enslavement, oppression or anything like that of the Chinese by the Spanish, why would anyone be offended?

[vapid]

I'm not a fan. It still causes unneeded controversy at an event thats supposed to promote global cooperation. Can't wait to cheer on USA when they play Spain!

[worldbefree]

Last thing I would do is piss off communists on their home turf. I wouldn't be too upset if Pau and Marc got the axe ya dig?

[ZeN]

I'm not a fan. It still causes unneeded controversy at an event thats supposed to promote global cooperation. Can't wait to cheer on USA when they play Spain!

Unfortunately these events are non the less filled with bad occurances...

Violence
Despite what Coubertin had hoped for, the Olympics did not bring total peace to the world. In fact, three Olympiads had to pass without Olympics because of war: due to World War I the 1916 Games were cancelled, and the summer and winter games of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled because of World War II. A recent and more ironic example is that in the 2008 South Ossetia War, Georgia and Russia started their engagement on the same day the 2008 Summer Olympics began.

Terrorism has also become a recent threat to the Olympic Games. In 1972, when the Summer Games were held in Munich, West Germany, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by terrorist group Black September in what is known as the Munich massacre. A bungled liberation attempt led to the deaths of the nine abducted athletes who had not been killed prior to the rescue, as well as that of a policeman, with five of the terrorists also being killed.[35]

During the Summer Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta, a bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park killed two and injured 111 others. The bomb was set by Eric Robert Rudolph, an American domestic terrorist, who is currently serving a life sentence at ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado.[36]

The Winter Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City were the first Olympic games held since September 11, 2001, which meant a higher level of security, which is now required for all Olympic games, as they may become terrorist targets.

There have been pro-Tibet / pro-human rights protests during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Torch Relay, some of which included violent incidents.

In 1998, it became known that several IOC members had taken bribes from the organising committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, in exchange for a vote on the city at the election of the host city. The IOC started an investigation, which led to four members resigning and six being expelled. The scandal set off further reforms, changing the way in which host cities are elected to avoid further bribes. Also, more active and former athletes were allowed in the IOC, and the membership terms have been limited