Journalist associations condemn sexist radio comments at Olympic tennis

The French association of women sports journalists and the union of sports journalists in France have condemned sexist comments made on national radio during a women’s tennis match at the Paris Olympics, where a commentator used stereotypical cliches about housewives to describe a player

Paris Olympics Tennis (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The French association of women sports journalists and the union of sports journalists in France have condemned sexist comments made on national radio during a women’s tennis match at the Paris Olympics, where a commentator used stereotypical cliches about housewives to describe a player.

The comments were made Tuesday during a doubles match pitting Caroline Garcia and Diane Parry of France against Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy. The French pair lost in a match tiebreaker.

At some point, a commentator from RMC radio said: “On the left, there’s Sara Errani, who’s the boss. She does everything: the washing up, the cooking, the mopping up.”

Both unions said in a joint statement Thursday that "sexist and misogynistic comments have no place in an international competition.”

They did not explicitly ask for sanctions against the journalist but recalled that a commentator working for Eurosport in the United Kingdom was suspended immediately for sexist comments he made during a swimming event at the Paris Games.

“We note that elsewhere in Europe, when there is a slipup, there are sanctions,” they said.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games