Patrick Moster was suspended by Germany’s Olympic sports federation after referring to cyclists from Algeria and Eritrea in a derogatory manner.
The sports director for Germany’s cycling program has been stripped of his duties and sent home one day after he repeatedly shouted a racial slur during a televised time trial at the Olympics, the country’s Olympic sports federation said on Thursday. Watching from the sidelines as a German cyclist trailed two competitors from Algeria and Eritrea in a men’s time trial on Wednesday, the director, Patrick Moster, could be heard on camera yelling “get the camel drivers,” according to an English translation by the news website Deutsche Welle. The episode came one day after a Greek broadcaster cut ties with a commentator for a racist comment about South Korean table tennis athletes, further undermining the themes of inclusion and good will that are an emphasis for organizers of the games. It also followed attacks on Naomi Osaka, who lit the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony, but whose Japanese identity was openly questioned after her ouster from the women’s tennis competition Mr. Moster apologized for his derogatory reference to the two cyclists from African countries, which have large Muslim populations. They were Azzedine Lagab of Algeria and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier of Eritrea. “In the heat of the moment and with the overall burden that we have here at the moment, my choice of words was not appropriate,” he told D.
