Nadal Under Fire—Nathan’s Notice
By: Nathan M. Cuny
On the Opposite side of Mr. Popular is Mr. Dopehead. Ok, only kidding, don’t take that seriously. Rafael Nadal like his new rival, Novak Djokovic, has been filling headlines lately, but not for winning awards. The satirical French news show, Les Guignols de l’info, made Nadal the butt of its jokes as they tied him Spain’s alleged connections with doping. In the program Nadal was depicted as a puppet layered in rolls of muscle urinating in his cars gas tank to make it go faster and shown signing a petition to support Spanish cyclist, Alberto Contador, with a syringe.
Rafael Nadal and his Uncle Toni Nadal were not immediately outraged by the programs doping accusations. The government of Spain did not take the satirical portrayal lightly. The country has vowed to defend the authenticity of its sports stars’ achievements. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, said,“We don’t understand or agree that certain media in our neighboring country have carried out such an attack. The government will of course defend the authenticity of the achievements of our athletes. Many of them are an example of persistence and they defend their country wherever they go. Spain is a country which respects anti-doping rules. If you analyze the average number of sentences for this type of behavior, we are very much below this average.”
In response to the skit Rafael Nadal was given a surprise drug test this Saturday. Nadal posted on his twitter account, “8:30 in the morning!!!Just finished passing a surprise antidoping test…it was expected after everything…but I’m happy it’s like this!”
Prior to Nadal’s surprise drug test he took the first skit as a bit of fun and games, but the fun and games continued repeatedly the French channel, Canal Plus. Nadal commented, “One day is ok but when, from what I understand, it is done repeatedly then that is not so good because it crosses the line a bit. And it is always with the same focus. I don’t think it is only Canal Plus that does it. I think there are other media pushing it along and I think that is something punishable because in Spain sportspeople who are not clean are punished, they don’t compete. It is a globalized campaign from the neighboring country. With a lot less resources than them we have achieved much more in the last years so we are doing something better — it is not a question of pills or syringes, I can assure you.”
Spain’s sports ministry is threatening legal action. After the skits aired repeatedly the Spanish sports ministry contacted the French sports ministry with complaints about their satire. The French channel Canal Plus, used Spain’s tennis and cycling federation’s logos in the skit on, Les Guignols de l’info. The Spanish tennis and cycling federations are considering suing Canal Plus for the use of their logos, as they retaliate in defense of their beloved super athletes.
Topics: Rafael Nadal
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