A German Olympic coach was caught on live TV urging one of his cyclists to “catch the camel drivers,” referring to competitors from Algeria and Eritrea, the Sun reported.
Patrick Moster could be seen running behind Nikias Arndt during the men’s individual time trial while shouting, “Hol die Kameltreiber! Hol die Kameltreiber!”
German broadcaster Florian Nass was aghast when he heard the coach and said on ARD that he was “totally wrong.”
“If I heard that correctly, he said, ‘Get the camel drivers!’ Something like that has no place in sport,” he said.
“This is absolutely underground. Sorry, I can’t think of anything … that is unworthy,” Nass added.
Moster later pedaled back his words and issued an apology for his racial slur.
Patrick Moster (left) serves as the sports director of the Germany Cycling Federation. dpa/picture alliance via Getty I“In the heat of the moment and with the overall burden we have here at the moment, I have missed my choice of words,” he said, according to the Sun. “I am so sorry, I can only sincerely apologize. I didn’t want to disrespect anyone.”
Alfons Hormann, president of the Germany Olympic Committee, said, “Team Germany stands for adherence to the Olympic values of respect, fair play and tolerance and lives them in all of their sporting competitions.
“It is important that Patrick Moster apologized immediately after the competition. We will seek a personal conversation with him today and deal with the situation,” he added.
Patrick Moster later pedaled back his words and issued an apology for his racial slur. Patrick Seeger/picture-alliance/Arndt went on to finish 19th out of 39 riders in the time trial event, which was won by Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic.
