Spain’s basketball players have been slammed for ‘trashing their apartments’ following their gold-medal loss in the London Olympics to the U.S. Read more after the jump.
Manager Sergio Scariolo’s team racked up more than $14,400 in damages to their two London 2012 rooms after the 107-100 loss, it was revealed Thursday.
The exact nature of the damage has not yet been confirmed, but the Spanish media has condemned the actions as “despicable” and “disrespectful”.
And a source within the Spanish Basketball Federation, which has officially denied any knowledge of the vandalism, said: “The leaving parties are usually a regular thing when players finish a tournament. After living together for six weeks, preparing and competing, they have it. But it has never led to this.”
Newspaper El Pais said Spain’s Chef de Mission, Cayetano Cornet, confirmed the damage the day after the Aug. 12 game and that the Spanish Olympic Committee paid for the destruction immediately.
Dennis Hone, interim chief executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation, who is in charge of developing the Olympic Park in east London, told British newspaper The Guardian it was the only incident of hooliganism he had encountered during the sporting event.
But he did also say that a Moroccan athlete took out a sprinkler system that crashed through several floors by playing with a remote control aircraft.
It is not the first time the Spanish basketball team has sparked outrage.
In 2008 it was in trouble over an advertisement showing the players from both the men’s and the women’s team using their fingers to make their eyes look more Chinese.
The pictures showed both sets of players making the gesture on a basketball court adorned with a Chinese dragon. They were part of a publicity campaign for team sponsor Seur.
