Spain at the 2008 Summer Olympics
| Spain at the 2008 Summer Olympics |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| IOC code | ESP | ||||||||
| NOC | Spanish Olympic Committee | ||||||||
| Website |
www |
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| in Beijing | |||||||||
| Competitors | 286 in 25 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer |
David Cal(opening) Joan Llaneras (closing) |
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Medals Ranked 15th |
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| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
| Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| Qualified for the semifinals | |
| Qualified for the quarterfinals | |
| Will play for places 7–10 | |
| Will play for places 7–12 |
Spain competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China, with a total of 286 athletes and competed in 25 sports.
Spain sent one archer to the Olympics. Daniel Morillo earned a spot to compete in the men's competition.
The list with the athletes classified for the 2008 Summer Olympics were released in July, after the Campeonato de España de Atletismo 2008 can be found on the following ref.
Spain sent two badminton players to Beijing; Pablo Abián - men's singles & Yoana Martínez - women's singles.
Spain's men's basketball team qualified for the Olympics as the reigning world champion in the 2006 FIBA World Championship. On the other hand, the women's team finished second at the EuroBasket Women 2007, and qualified for the final five Olympic spots at the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women 2008.
Both men and women 2008 Summer Olympics Spanish basketball teams were a part of the 'slanty-eye' gesture photo incident that took place before the Beijing Olympics. The photo was a feature ad as a newspaper spread in Spain, showing all players using their fingers to apparently make their eyes look more Chinese (Epicanthic fold) on a basketball court adorned with a Chinese dragon. The photo was part of a publicity campaign for team sponsor Seur and was used only in Spain.
"It was something like supposed to be funny or something but never offensive in any way", said forward Pau Gasol. "I'm sorry if anybody thought or took it the wrong way and thought that it was offensive."
Guard José Calderón said the team was responding to a request from the photographer. "We felt it was something appropriate, and that it would be interpreted as an affectionate gesture", said Calderón. "Without a doubt, some ... press didn't see it that way."
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Wikipedia