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German Olympic cycling coach caught on TV making racist comment during men’s time trial

Patrick Moster urged Nikias Arndt to “catch the camel riders,” referring to riders from Eritrea and Algeria ahead of him on the road

A German ​Olympic cycling coach is at the centre of a racism scandal at the Tokyo Olympics after he was heard on TV urging one of his country's participants in the event to “catch the camel riders.”

Patrick Moster, aged 54, shouted the words at Nikias Arndt as he passed through a feed zone, with riders Azzedine Lagab of Algeria and Eritrea's Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (both pictured below) immediately ahead of him on the Fuji Speedway course.

Patrick Moster, Tokyo 2020

Arndt, who finished 19th, was in the first wave of riders to start the event earlier today, and had already caught and passed Iranian rider Saeeid Safarzadeh as well as Ahmad Badreddin Wais of the Refugee Olympic Team, who is from Syria.

“I'm so sorry. I can only apologize for the words I said,” Moster told the German news agency SID afterwards, as reported by Eurosport.de.

“There is a lot of stress and it’s hectic at the moment, but that is not an excuse,” he added. “That must not happen.”

The German national Olympic committee, the DBOS, will hold a meeting with Moster later today to discuss the incident.

In a statement, DBOS president Alfons Hörmann said: “Team D stands for adherence to the Olympic values ​​of respect, fair play and tolerance and lives them in all their sporting competitions.

“It is important that Patrick Moster apologised immediately after the competition,” he added.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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33 comments

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Bmblbzzz | 2 years ago
2 likes

"Criticism of a nationality is clearly not racist." 

Correct but wrong. Terms like Frog, Kraut, Godon, les rosbifs, are not racist but they are intented to be offensive descriptors of groups of people as one homogenous mass. Whether that group is a nation, a race, a culture or even something participatory such as cyclists, is actually not relevant.

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Jenova20 replied to Bmblbzzz | 2 years ago
0 likes

Bmblbzzz wrote:

"Criticism of a nationality is clearly not racist." 

Correct but wrong. Terms like Frog, Kraut, Godon, les rosbifs, are not racist but they are intented to be offensive descriptors of groups of people as one homogenous mass. Whether that group is a nation, a race, a culture or even something participatory such as cyclists, is actually not relevant.

 

Does that include terms such as "cheese-eating surrender-monkey?"

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Bmblbzzz | 2 years ago
0 likes

Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier is from Eritrea not Algeria. You got it right in the header, it would have been good to get it right in the text too. Yes, I know, proofreading is something nobody can pay for nowadays.

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Hirsute | 2 years ago
2 likes
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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
0 likes

Was their a reason he would have stayed anyway? Track cycling, maybe the Para's I suppose unless his remit was only the road teams. 

Also anyway know his official tilte. Some publications state Official, some Coach, some a Sporting Director.(as if multiple). some THE Sporting Director as if he is the main person, and the linked article above states "Boss".

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Chris Hayes | 2 years ago
6 likes

This really touched a nerve with me. It takes tremendous courage as an amateur rider to pitch up and race against the elite pros.  Anna Kiesenhofer kind of did it, though she freely admits that whilst she doesn't have a pro licence atm, she trains like a pro and indeed held a pro contract until recently.  That's why I had tears in my eyes watching her win: that's the Olympic spirit. Patrick Moster's behaviour was the antithesis of this. Let's hope he's ashamed of himself at the very least. 

But this also touched a nerve because one of my best mates is an outlier in an elite sport.  He's a very, very good CX skier who took up CX skiing very late in life (i.e. he's not Norwegian and hasn't been skiing since he was knee high).  But he has represented his country - a non skiing nation - at the World Cup aged 45 (120th out of 130 from recollection) and was a team leader for his country in South Korea.  He takes it in his stride, but, as someone who has acute fear of failure, I'm in awe. To compete against Vegard Ulvang (google him) at his age is temerity, but it takes courage - bags of courage - and the type few of us have.  I guess you're always going to have one or two fat idiots laughing from the side of the road...but a coach should know better. 

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jova54 | 2 years ago
4 likes

“It is important that Patrick Moster apologised immediately after the competition,” he added.

Immediately after his racist comments were exposed to the whole world more like. If they hadn't been witnessed he would not have been forced to apologize but they would still have been made and he would still be a racist.

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portec | 2 years ago
4 likes

Is this really racism? It was certainly a stupid thing to say, it's unprofessional, it's immature, it's condescending, he certainly should not have said it, and I agree with Chris's comment that the athletes deserve better. But he made no reference to race, skin colour, etc. There are (or were) multiple races of people who used camels as a form of transport. It's a custom of some cultures in some parts of the world. It's just not accurate to call this racism, but I suppose it gets clicks (and yes, it worked on me; I see the irony). All it really was is a stupid joke, so by all means say that somebody made a stupid and possibly offensive joke but to call it racist just seems gratuitous and divisive to me. Maybe I'm just jaded from all the myriad of accusations of racism we see flying around the media these days. Rant over.

Incidently I doubt the riders he was referring to have ever ridden a camel.

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SimoninSpalding replied to portec | 2 years ago
18 likes
portec wrote:

Is this really racism?

Yes, yes it is.

portec wrote:

Incidently I doubt the riders he was referring to have ever ridden a camel.

And that is exactly why it is racist.

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portec replied to SimoninSpalding | 2 years ago
4 likes

I think you missed my point. Riding a camel is not connected to race or ethnicity.

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David9694 replied to portec | 2 years ago
4 likes

Sausage-eaters, sauerkrauts?  Them neither.

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hawkinspeter replied to portec | 2 years ago
5 likes

portec wrote:

I think you missed my point. Riding a camel is not connected to race or ethnicity.

And yet he wouldn't have used that phrase if the riders were European/American etc.

You could use the phrase "tea-drinkers" (deliberately non-offensive example) to refer to British people even though drinking tea is also not connected to race or ethnicity.

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portec replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
4 likes

I agree but I'm struggling to see how that's an argument against what I'm saying. If the riders were European/American there are other derogatory phrases that could be used to the same effect. Or if they were from any other part of the world. I'm not going to say any of them but I think we could all name a few. And like the comment made by the German coach, few if any are racially-based, but more to do with culture or nationality. And of course they might still be derogatory, disrespectful, etc.

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hawkinspeter replied to portec | 2 years ago
6 likes

I'm not sure where the line is between race/culture/nationality and I'm not convinced that it is meaningful. If someone uses derogatory terms that rely on the target's culture or nationality, then most of the time, I'd consider that to be racist.

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portec replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

I disagree with your second sentence. Criticism of a nationality is clearly not racist. If somebody criticises British people what race(s) are they criticising? We have people from all races born here and living here. To a lesser extent it's the same for culture. Many cultural norms are shared by multiple racial groups. Some cultural norms are shared by ALL racial groups.

Another point I'd make is that intent matters. I can see the point people are trying to make but that point heavily relies on assuming the German coach's intent to be racist. Perhaps I'm overly trusting and too "glass half full" but I don't think many people would intentionally shout out a racist comment in public at the biggest sporting event in the world where there are TV cameras nearby broadcasting the event to every country in the world. I think what most likely happened is that in the heat of the moment in a high-pressure environment he made a stupid comment without thinking that some people have chosen to interpret as racist, based on assumptions derived from a few sentences on a web site.

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hawkinspeter replied to portec | 2 years ago
1 like

I don't think that intent is that important as there's a lot of ingrained racist attitudes in cultures, so people can use phrases such as "yellow peril" without realising the history and meaning of the term.

Again, I don't think that it's particularly useful to differentiate between what constitutes a race or a culture as the whole basis of splitting up humans into races is itself flawed.

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AidanR replied to portec | 2 years ago
12 likes

"Camel jockey" is a well known ethnic slur for an Arab.

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/camel_jockey

I have no idea why you're trying to defend this, but you're wrong. Please stop.

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portec replied to AidanR | 2 years ago
2 likes

Maybe it is to you. Not to me. And what exactly do you think I'm defending? If it's what I think you're trying to say that's sinking pretty low and I have nothing to say to you.

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Rendel Harris replied to portec | 2 years ago
9 likes

portec wrote:

Maybe it is to you. Not to me. And what exactly do you think I'm defending? If it's what I think you're trying to say that's sinking pretty low and I have nothing to say to you.

You are defending clear and obvious racism and you're either very stupid or racist yourself to think you're not. "I doubt any of them have ever ridden a camel"? Oh so can we call Arabs "towelheads" on the basis that actually they don't technically wear towels on their heads? No good getting on your high horse, you've been rumbled and called, move on.

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AidanR replied to portec | 2 years ago
9 likes
portec wrote:

Maybe it is to you. Not to me. And what exactly do you think I'm defending? If it's what I think you're trying to say that's sinking pretty low and I have nothing to say to you.

I think you're defending racist language.

It's not about whether it is to me or to you. It's a well-known slur and is therefore highly likely to be offensive to those it's aimed at.

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zeeridesbikes replied to portec | 2 years ago
1 like

How on earth is 'heat of the moment' an excuse. 

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WeLoveHills replied to portec | 2 years ago
5 likes
portec wrote:

And like the comment made by the German coach, few if any are racially-based, but more to do with culture or nationality.

The point is that "race" is a cultural construct, not a biological or genetic category, and so comments about, say, skin colour, are meant to be offensive towards particular groups of people, just like comments about shagging sheep or anything of this kind.

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wycombewheeler replied to portec | 2 years ago
5 likes

portec wrote:

I think you missed my point. Riding a camel is not connected to race or ethnicity.

really? not a term that he would use to describe any arab, but not europeans. Quite clearly the basis for his choice of words was purely the ethnicity of the two riders ahead of his rider.

Or are you suggesting he is not making an assumption based on their race and instead knows for a fact that both these riders own or race camels?

That seems quite implausible.

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portec replied to wycombewheeler | 2 years ago
2 likes
wycombewheeler wrote:

Or are you suggesting he is not making an assumption based on their race and instead knows for a fact that both these riders own or race camels?

That seems quite implausible.

From my first post:

Incidently I doubt the riders he was referring to have ever ridden a camel.

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skeuomorph replied to portec | 2 years ago
10 likes

Dude. It's time to stop and reflect. If you don't get it, it's time to put the effort in to make sure you do get it. Otherwise you are part of the problem (even if not deliberately). 

Assuming you're UK based Brit(ish) is a great book that explores subtle racism here. It's a good read. https://www.waterstones.com/book/brit-ish/afua-hirsch/9781784705039

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David9694 replied to portec | 2 years ago
0 likes

If you're having the "was that racist?" conversation, then chances are you know the answer deep down. Appreciating that you didn't make the comment in question, but since you seem to want to die on this hill, this is you:
 

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hmas1974 replied to portec | 2 years ago
6 likes

There comes a point where the sensible choice is to step away from your keyboard and stop using it is a shovel.

Whether he intended it to be racist is irrelevent.  It is how the comment was perceived and there are few people that would disagree that referring to Arabic riders as Camel Drivers is anything other than derogatory.

Is throwing a banana at a black footballer therefore not racist if you happen to know for a fact that they don't like bananas?

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WeLoveHills replied to portec | 2 years ago
7 likes

This is not about riding a camel, manifestly. This is about referring to an ethnicity/nationality/other by association to an activity (typically involving animals) in a stereotypical, demonstrably false and derogative way.

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Kendalred replied to portec | 2 years ago
2 likes

portec wrote:

I think you missed my point. Riding a camel is not connected to race or ethnicity.

Neither is throwing spears...

 

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jova54 replied to portec | 2 years ago
1 like

Yes.

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