Spanish to sue French broadcaster over Nadal drug skit!

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Bionic Poster
No love lost between the Spanish and the French is there? :shock:

Spanish to sue over Nadal drug skit

Wed, 08 Feb 12:15:00 2012

The Spanish tennis federation plan to sue French TV broadcaster Canal+ over a sketch which appeared to imply world number two Rafa Nadal and his fellow Spanish athletes are drug cheats.

The sketch from the show "Les Guignols", or "The Puppets", shows a life-size likeness of Nadal filling up his car's gas tank from his own bladder before being pulled over by traffic police for speeding.

"Spanish athletes. They do not win by chance," is flashed on the screen surrounded by the logo of the RFET and several other Spanish federations, including footballland cycling.

In a statement published on Wednesday, the RFET said it planned to sue Canal+ France for "publishing a video in which, as well as containing unacceptable and damaging insinuations, the federation's emblem and anagram were used".

The federation would be demanding that the video is withdrawn, the logo is not used again and that Canal+ pays damages for its unauthorised use, the statement added.

Canal+ officials did not immediately respond to telephone calls seeking comment.

"On this occasion intolerable limits have been exceeded and we at the RFET cannot ignore such discredit and slander towards our athletes," federation president Jose Luis Escanuela said.

Canal+ broadcast the Nadal sketch after Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador was banned for two years on Monday for failing a doping test during the 2010 Tour de France.

It was the latest French attack on Spanish athletes following comments from former French Open tennis champion Yannick Noah in November in which he accused them of using "magic potions".

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/08022012/58/spanish-sue-nadal-drug-skit.html
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Are the Spaniards overreacting or are they right not to let this lie?
 
I think they shouldn't have used official logos.. that was their mistake; but I dont know if suing for damages is really warranted.
 
shows a life-size likeness of Nadal

ehehee, "likeness" The show calls his name.

I dont understand the French dislike of Nadal. Maybe someone from there can explain it.
 
OddJack said:
shows a life-size likeness of Nadal

ehehee, "likeness" The show calls his name.

I dont understand the French dislike of Nadal. Maybe someone from there can explain it.
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Butt picking every single point, water bottles adjusting, time delaying, fake MTOs, fear of stepping on lines with right or left foot (I forget which one), arrogance on court best demonstrated by an angry scowl whenever an opponent hits a winner, fist pumping on unforced errors from the opponent, making the opponent wait before the match, intimidation tactics before and during the match, on court coaching and other less obvious cheating, etc. Better question is why do other countries still seem to mostly like Nadal? Why can the French see the light but not others?
 
dudeski said:
Federer repeatedly beat French players such as Monfils in big FO matches. Why do they like him? Federer is not even French.
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Ah but he speaks French fluently and charms the the RG crowd. Poor Rafa can barely speak Spanish fluently! :wink:
 
dudeski said:
Federer repeatedly beat French players such as Monfils in big FO matches. Why do they like him? Federer is not even French.
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They really like Federer's style and hate Nadal's style. They don't want Nadal to win and he constantly does by grinding opponents down. It's get up a lot of people's noses, as seen by the anti-Nadal sentiment.
 
OddJack said:
shows a life-size likeness of Nadal

ehehee, "likeness" The show calls his name.

I dont understand the French dislike of Nadal. Maybe someone from there can explain it.
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Because it's blatantly obvious that the Spanish government flagrantly protects their athletes despite the massive amounts of incriminating evidence presented against them.


The Contador Case, the Fuentes files that still have never been released, the multiple pardons of said cyclers that were ON the Fuentes list, etc. etc.
 
when the arguments lack, even the most knowledgeable fail...
 
Mustard said:
Repeatedly beating Federer at the French Open, 5 times in total.
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That plays a big part, but I'd say it's more so related to the Spanish dominating their two biggest sporting events; The French Open and Tour De France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detailed_list_of_Tour_de_France_winners

Just about all of the Spanish winners have been tied to doping in one form or another. Delgado, Indurain, Contador(this latest conviction was a witch hunt however), Pereiro, and Sastre have all been tied to doping. Seems rather ironic that the French seek to publicly call out Spanish cyclists when their last TDF winner was an avid doper(Laurent Fignon).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Open_champions_(Men's_Singles)

The Spanish have also dominated the French Open. To me, the continued dominance of the Spanish on clay plays a bigger part in France's aversion of them rather than the fact that Nadal beat Federer's seemingly perfect(to the French) style of tennis.
 
NamRanger said:
Because it's blatantly obvious that the Spanish government flagrantly protects their athletes despite the massive amounts of incriminating evidence presented against them.


The Contador Case, the Fuentes files that still have never been released, the multiple pardons of said cyclers that were ON the Fuentes list, etc. etc.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operación_Puerto_doping_case

I don't feel that the majority of Spanish athletes dope, but when you have seemingly convoluted acts such as Operation Puerto it casts doubt on all Spanish athletes when they win. Similar to how American cyclists will now be judged by the admissions by George Hincapie, Tyler Hamilton, and Floyd Landis about their use of PEDs. Combine this with the seemingly incontrovertible evidence against Armstrong, if any American wins a Grand Tour again they will almost certainly be deemed a doper.
 
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NamRanger said:
Because it's blatantly obvious that the Spanish government flagrantly protects their athletes despite the massive amounts of incriminating evidence presented against them.


The Contador Case, the Fuentes files that still have never been released, the multiple pardons of said cyclers that were ON the Fuentes list, etc. etc.
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Ok, but that doesnt explain the hate, or the love he gets at RG. There is no "massive" amounts of "incriminating evidence" against Nadal.
 
OddJack said:
Ok, but that doesnt explain the hate, or the love he gets at RG. There is no "massive" amounts of "incriminating evidence" against Nadal.
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No, but the fact that he is a supposed freak of nature in the tennis world combined with his unsportsmanlike conduct against many players at the FO, along with the fact that most of his compatriots in other sports get literally free pardons for abusing PEDs all together make the French hate him.



It is a combination of multiple things. He is not a likable personality, he obviously has no sense of sportsmanship on the court (consistently abuses time rules, injury timeouts, etc.), and is the #1 poster child (maybe 2nd to only Djokovic) for doping investigations in tennis if it were to ever happen.
 
The French have been much more aware of doping than people in most other countries because of their hosting of the Tour de France. In the early days of Lance Armstrong's dominance many French were very suspicious of him. In those days Americans were generally very critical of the aspersions cast on Lance by the French media. There was no smoking gun so most Americans chose to stand by their cycling hero. Of course, this was also the period when the American media, and sports fans generally, were totally oblivious or in denial about PEDs having taken over baseball. But we know where that went, and that the French were right about Lance all along. This doesn't mean Canal+ is right about Nadal, but they must figure they are pretty good at sniffing out rats at this point.
 
corners said:
The French have been much more aware of doping than people in most other countries because of their hosting of the Tour de France. In the early days of Lance Armstrong's dominance many French were very suspicious of him. In those days Americans were generally very critical of the aspersions cast on Lance by the French media. There was no smoking gun so most Americans chose to stand by their cycling hero. Of course, this was also the period when the American media, and sports fans generally, were totally oblivious or in denial about PEDs having taken over baseball. But we know where that went, and that the French were right about Lance all along. This doesn't mean Canal+ is right about Nadal, but they must figure they are pretty good at sniffing out rats at this point.
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I wonder how they feel about Djokovic? If he starts to dominate the FO like he has the other Slams, will they start to point the accusing finger at him too?
 
Mustard said:
They really like Federer's style and hate Nadal's style. They don't want Nadal to win and he constantly does by grinding opponents down. It's get up a lot of people's noses, as seen by the anti-Nadal sentiment.
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I don't think that was it, although it eventually added. It was something previous to the Federer and Nadal 2005 semifinal. RG crowd attitude towards Nadal seemed cold and even slighty hostile from the begining of the tournament. I'd say even before the Nadal-Grosjean match was played. I really never understood what it was, but I remember it perfectly. Something strange was in the air and never disappeared.

What was it? I don't know.

NamRanger said:
Because it's blatantly obvious that the Spanish government flagrantly protects their athletes despite the massive amounts of incriminating evidence presented against them.
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The Spanish government can't "protect" players when it comes to international federations. If a sport's international federation punish any athlete, there's nothing the Spanish government or any other for that matter can do about it.
 
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corners said:
The French have been much more aware of doping than people in most other countries because of their hosting of the Tour de France. In the early days of Lance Armstrong's dominance many French were very suspicious of him. In those days Americans were generally very critical of the aspersions cast on Lance by the French media. There was no smoking gun so most Americans chose to stand by their cycling hero. Of course, this was also the period when the American media, and sports fans generally, were totally oblivious or in denial about PEDs having taken over baseball. But we know where that went, and that the French were right about Lance all along. This doesn't mean Canal+ is right about Nadal, but they must figure they are pretty good at sniffing out rats at this point.
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They were just more vocal about it. I am sure Italy(Giro d'Italia) and Spain(Vuelta a Espana) as well as other countries that have a big interest in cycling know about the rampant doping that occurs. I agree that a majority stood by Armstrong in the absence of a smoking gun, but by 2000 a great deal of Americans had come to recognize the use of steroids in baseball, especially following Barry Bonds' bulking up to an obscene level given his prior physique.
 
Dilettante said:
I don't think that was it, although it eventually added. It was something previous to the Federer and Nadal 2005 semifinal. RG crowd attitude towards Nadal seemed cold and even slighty hostile from the begining of the tournament. I'd say even before the Nadal-Grosjean match was played. I really never understood what it was, but I remember it perfectly. Something strange was in the air and never disappeared.

What was it? I don't know.



The Spanish government can't "protect" players when it comes to international federations. If a sport's international federation punish any athlete, there's nothing the Spanish government or any other for that matter can do about it.
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What, with holding evidence from International Federations isn't protecting your players?


Did you see what the Spanish institutions did with Contador? They let him off with a free pass.
 
corners said:
The French have been much more aware of doping than people in most other countries because of their hosting of the Tour de France. In the early days of Lance Armstrong's dominance many French were very suspicious of him. In those days Americans were generally very critical of the aspersions cast on Lance by the French media. There was no smoking gun so most Americans chose to stand by their cycling hero. Of course, this was also the period when the American media, and sports fans generally, were totally oblivious or in denial about PEDs having taken over baseball. But we know where that went, and that the French were right about Lance all along. This doesn't mean Canal+ is right about Nadal, but they must figure they are pretty good at sniffing out rats at this point.
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When are they going to get a whiff of FrankenCvac?
 
If Nadal was on something they would have caught him by now.

French Broadcaster must be stupid to try this stunt.....it would have been better to play on Contador than Nadal.
 
NamRanger said:
What, with holding evidence from International Federations isn't protecting your players?

Did you see what the Spanish institutions did with Contador? They let him off with a free pass.
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I don't pay my taxes to have my already useless enough government in pursuit of doping evidence in the international sports events, making a job that international federations should do. There's much more important stuff to do that playing the Sherlock Holmes for ya.

BTW, I don't get your Contador comment. If he took PEDs, let's the racing federation ban him. What exactly do you want the "Spanish institutions" to do and what exactly do you mean by "Spanish institutions"? The literary Cervantes Institute is a Spanish institution.
 
kishnabe said:
If Nadal was on something they would have caught him by now.

French Broadcaster must be stupid to try this stunt.....it would have been better to play on Contador than Nadal.
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They wanted to mock the entire Spanish sport, not just Rafa .The video ends with this image

1328637827642.jpg


Los de Canal Plus Francia tienen razón. No ganamos por casualidad, ganamos porque somos mejores.. C'est la vie!
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http://twitter.com/#!/aarbeloa17/status/166941392562692097
Nice answer. ;)
 
Biscuitmcgriddleson said:
They were just more vocal about it. I am sure Italy(Giro d'Italia) and Spain(Vuelta a Espana) as well as other countries that have a big interest in cycling know about the rampant doping that occurs. I agree that a majority stood by Armstrong in the absence of a smoking gun, but by 2000 a great deal of Americans had come to recognize the use of steroids in baseball, especially following Barry Bonds' bulking up to an obscene level given his prior physique.
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Thats all well and good except you seem to be ignorant of an important fact, Armstrong had testicular cancer he had a medical exemption to use steroids up to the testing limits so it is a moot point, there was nothing to find in regards to steroid use, yes he used steroid and yes he was allowed, he can't even live a normal life without them, his body doesn't produce testosterone.
 
corners said:
The French have been much more aware of doping than people in most other countries because of their hosting of the Tour de France. In the early days of Lance Armstrong's dominance many French were very suspicious of him. In those days Americans were generally very critical of the aspersions cast on Lance by the French media. There was no smoking gun so most Americans chose to stand by their cycling hero. Of course, this was also the period when the American media, and sports fans generally, were totally oblivious or in denial about PEDs having taken over baseball. But we know where that went, and that the French were right about Lance all along. This doesn't mean Canal+ is right about Nadal, but they must figure they are pretty good at sniffing out rats at this point.
Click to expand...

It's also worthy of note that the French anti-doping agency is much more efficient than WADA. Recently, they were invited to 'operate' at RG. That was in 2009, for those who are interested, ie the year when Nadal and Djokovic had that extremely suspect semi in Hamburg (at the time, rumours amongst the coaches in the RG alleys were that the ITF had asked them to 'calm down' after this match). Interestingly, three things happened during this edition:
- Djokovic was crushed early by Kohlshreiber
- Nadal lost to Söderling (his only loss in RG) and then didn't go to Wimbledon, supposedly because of 'his knees' (for a guy who was still running around like crazy, of course), after an exhibition on grass in which he kept repeating 'I can't play, my knees, I can't play' in which sounded like a PR operation
- After that, the French anti-doping agency was never invited again at RG, and things promptly got back 'in order', with Nadal winning everytime

So yes, rumours abound about Nadal (but don't worry, Djokovic is soon getting there, I saw a French article on the AO final (link below) in which they are openly questioning whether such a physical intensity for 6h is humanly possble without outside help.

And remember that France has the dubious honour of hosting the most doped-up sporting event ever, ie the Tour de France. French people now seem to think that, when something smells fishy in sports, it's generally safe to assume that there *is* something fishy behind it. Cycling showed that extensively (and is still doing it), and blatant cover-ups such as Operation Puerto only fuel the rumours, they sure don't stop them. After all, who were the "top tennis players" (plural) that Fuentes was refering to in 2006? The list is obviously not that long...

http://www.menly.fr/buzz/news/67541-nadal-djokovic-finale-australie/
 
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Lsmkenpo said:
Thats all well and good except you seem to be ignorant of an important fact, Armstrong had testicular cancer he had a medical exemption to use steroids up to the testing limits so it is a moot point, there was nothing to find in regards to steroid use, yes he used steroid and yes he was allowed, he can't even live a normal life without them, his body doesn't produce testosterone.
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EPO sure wasn't part of what he was allowed to use, though... ;)
 
merlinpinpin said:
EPO sure wasn't part of what he was allowed to use, though... ;)
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Countries want sports heroes so its always tough to accept and admit that they are cheating. I dont know about Nadal and others in tennis but Armstrong, Canseco, Clemens, Bonds, McGuire, Sosa and so many others were all cheating and some of them people still try and defend because they like them and want them to be clean.
 
maybe it's not cute if french players take steroids at the french open. federer doesn't substitute for monfils or gasquet in france. pobrecito.
 
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