Greek commentator Dimosthenis Karmiris has been thrown out on the street by public broadcaster ERT after clumsy racist statements. Karmiris reacted fiercely after his compatriot Panagiotis Gionis was defeated by South Korean Jeoung Young-sik in the 3rd round of table tennis.
Both gentlemen went all the way and in the end Young-sik was the stronger after 7 sets. When asked why South Koreans are so incredibly good at this sport, Karmiris responded as follows: “I also don’t understand how they can see that ball fly back and forth with their slanted eyes.”
angry audience
The viewers on the ERT channel did not believe their ears and made themselves heard on social media. Karmiris’s comment was called “disrespectful” and “completely ridiculous.” Not much later, the co-commentator was fired. “There is no room for racist commentary here,” the ERT statement read.
Clumsy pronunciation German trainer
Earlier these Games there was a lot of fuss about Patrick Moster. He was sent home by the Olympic committee after shouting racist things during his pupil Nikias Arndt’s time trial. Moster yelled ‘catch up with that camel driver!’ when Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier from Eritrea and Algerian Azzedine Lagab were cycling for Arndt. Moster could be heard live on the German channel ARD at that time.
Moster did apologize to Bild. “I’m a racist,” he said. “We are sure that he has made his apologies wholeheartedly,” said the German Olympic Committee. “Nevertheless, his behavior is totally inconsistent with our Olympic values of fair play, respect and tolerance.”
