Aussie commentator defends herself after seemingly racist comment about Chinese

Silver medal winner Yan Ting, of China, left, wipes her eye as bronze medal winner Kong Fanyu, of China, looks away after the women's freestyle aerial final. Photo / AP

Channel Seven have been forced to explain an on-air comment after Legendary Aussie skier Jacqui Cooper made a seemingly 'racist' remark about Chinese athletes during Olympics coverage.

The former Olympian, who is part of Channel Seven's Olympic coverage team, was slammed on social media after saying: Chinese competitors "look the same" during the first stages of the women's aerials in PyeongChang last night.

"Very Chinese," Cooper said of competitor Yan Ting's first jump.

"They all look the same, they're very hard to tell who's who."

Seven issued a statement through their social media accounts explaining Cooper was referring to the the Chinese style of aerials and not their physical appearance.

"During tonight's cover of the women's aerials, commentator Jacqui Cooper a former Olympian and World Champion - noted than an aerial manouevre was in a technical and style sense, very Chinese," a statement said.

"Meaning that the whole of the Chinese aerial team are trained in the same way - and the manouevre referenced was a classic technically perfect, trademark of that team's style.

"At no time was the commentary racist, intended to be racist or offensive."

Twitter quickly turned into a frenzy after the comment, with users lashing out at the 45-year-old mother, who represented the green and gold for 20 years.

"Did Jacqui Cooper really just say that all the Chinese athletes look the same? #7Olympics' one listener wrote, while another said "Jacqui Cooper, I love you. But saying Chinese aerial skiers "look the same" is kinda racist."

Cooper, who is now a motivational speaker, defended herself on her Twitter account, saying she was referring to the technique of Chinese aerial skiers.

"I've noticed a whole bunch of comments about my remarks re the Chinese," she wrote.

"I need to make it clear I was talking about the jump.

"The Chinese are trained by one coach with one technique, their aim is all to jump the same."

It's been a rocky start to Olympics coverage for Seven, after viewers complained the network was showing replays instead of live medal events.

Seven was quick to defend their coverage, saying they needed to replay the day's events to people who work during the day and miss it, pointing to their app's eight live streams for those looking for more variety.

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