It’s feared that a row over racism in Spanish sport could jeopardise the country’s chances of hosting the 2016 Olympics. The latest in a series of racist gestures carried out by Spain’s fans and sports stars has provoked further criticism of the country a

The continual barrage of abuse towards black football players has caused England’s Football Association to announce that they would not be happy playing a friendly in Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium. It follows racism directed towards some of their players in the city four years ago.

Several days’ later sanctions were also announced by UEFA against Atletico Madrid following complaints of crowd disturbances during a Champions League match against Marseille earlier this month.

But Spanish sports officials have hit back, claiming that it may not be a coincidence that the two announcements were made within days of each other, given that both the British and French have been questioning the success of Spanish sportsmen such as tennis player Rafael Nadal and Formula One champion Fernando Alonso.      

The racist taunts are not confined to the four corners of the football pitch and the abuse seems to be targeted at black sportsmen and women in many different sports in Spain.

Earlier this year Lewis Hamilton was the victim of such prejudice at a Formula One testing session in Barcelona.

The men and women’s basketball teams were also guilty when they made ‘slanted eye’ gestures in front of a picture of a Chinese dragon in photographs before this year’s Beijing Olympics. 

The photograph was an advert for a courier company and was featured in several Spanish newspapers and magazines, with everyone involved seemingly unaware that there was anything wrong with it.

Indeed, the Spanish defence to the criticism seems to be that “nobody in Spain finds it offensive”.

But the racist incidents have sparked growing criticism from other countries and there are concerns Spain is damaging its sporting reputation.

The football stadiums are the most heavily targeted and there are increasing calls for football clubs and associations to take racism seriously. But critics say there is an unwillingness to deal with right-wing supporters who are responsible for the behaviour.  

Gabrielle Pickard for RT