“The King even called Canal+!” | Relief

That Rafael Nadal has at times become a matter of state can be demonstrated by an anecdote about French puppets. February 2012, a Canal+ program on French television places a muscular Spanish doll in a gas station. The music of Enrique Iglesias plays, the latex tennis player enters the store, buys a bottle of water, goes back out to the SUV and urinates in the gas tank. When he gets back into the car, it starts and quickly reaches full speed. The scene cuts to reveal a phrase surrounded by the logos of the major sports federations: “Spanish athletes win for a reason.”

And a nativity scene was placed there. CSD complaints, including an official complaint from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That is, a whole diplomatic conflict. The puppets’ answer was also not long in coming, and the bet doubled. In less than a few days, several athletes (Casillas, Gasol and Nadal) sign contracts… with a syringe. “It seems that the only thing that is not doped in Spain is the economy.”– the presenter finishes Le Guignol de l’infothat was the name of the French version of the show, the original from which the Spanish version later came out.

Lionel Dutemple, the program’s writer and therefore one of those responsible for it all, answers a Relevo questionnaire about what happened. “It actually all came from a skit where Nadal urinates in the tank of his car instead of filling up, and his car is going 1,000 km per hour. hourWe did a lot of sketches on the topic of doping, but with the onset of scandals in Spain, we focused on Nadal.to summarize the Spanish athletes individually.”

Dutemple talks about this in detail. At this time, Spain had problems with the anti-doping laboratory, which theoretically should have been monitoring these issues in the country, and, in addition, it had just become known that Alberto Contador had tested positive for clenbuterol, because of which he would lose the Tour and be disqualified. disqualified for two years. The failed Operation Puerto and its unpunished results were not so distant in time.. In short, these were not the moments with the most solid international image for Spanish sport.

Dutemple sums it all up with humor, which is why he is a comic book writer: “There was the Puerto scandal and then the Eufemiano Fuentes scandal which affected football, cycling, tennis and even archery and darts!!“.

But his memory goes beyond that, because what happened a few months later is also in his memory, and rightly so. “Except, After this scandal, Spain changed its doping rules with the help of WADA.“, he notes. Indeed, soon after this the country decided to change its rules, more because it was clear that it was not up to par in this matter than because of the specific case with the puppets, but there is nothing superfluous in this. these cases.

Let’s return to the earthquake that prompted this article. DuTemple explains that these were quite turbulent days: “I remember it very well. The King of Spain even called Canal+!“After the phrase, he puts several emoticons, faces are bursting with laughter. This is a joke, but not such a joke, perhaps it did not reach the crown, but everyone who remained below the establishment was uncomfortable with these scenes.

Let’s start, of course, with Rafael Nadal himself: “Once is good. When this is repeatedly not so good, because it crosses the line, it is a campaign against Spain, against Spanish sports, and not only Canal+, I think.” There are quite a few other media outlets that promote this. This is condemnable because in Spain athletes who are not clean are sanctioned without competing. Using far fewer resources, we achieved much more.we will do something right, and it’s not about pills and syringes…”

It is surprising, even relatively, that in response to the doping accusation they say that there is envy, but this was in no way the work of Nadal. The newspapers, as well as some other athletes, blamed the French mediocrity at Roland Garros and the Tour on jealousy, which, according to this theory, drove them to such jokes.

In the case of the puppets, this complaint actually motivated the writers to continue down this path. Moreover, they were more than worried when it came to criticism, because on many other issues they were also playing with fire. “Yes, these kinds of reactions have always been there, but it is true that we were surprised by the scale they took in Spain. And above all, it made us laugh. “That’s what makes you want to do more because it was clear we were aiming for the right thing.”

Spanish side

Many years have passed since then, the French puppets no longer exist, and Nadal is approaching the last days of his sports career. Some of the Spanish leaders of that time have lost their memory a little, but now refreshed, they tell how they survived it all.

“It was a typical thing that drives you crazy,” José Ignacio Werth, then Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, begins his sentence.although it’s true that there was a strange atmosphere there with the whole doping problemHe remembers a conversation with Nadal himself, a battery of control higher than usual faced by Spanish athletes in those days. The usual consequences of a country being placed on the World Anti-Doping Association’s list of suspects.

Werth has been to several Roland Garros finals, the most obvious crossover between Nadal and France, and understands that the puppet was a television story. “I was there with him in three finals and they treated him with great affection.They also adored him because they didn’t have any great tennis players at that time. They didn’t and don’t,” the former minister told Relevo.

Werth suggests that the situation has gotten out of control, perhaps even on both sides. Since the complaint was transmitted from the embassy, ​​and therefore through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by José Manuel García-Margallo, it is unknown whether a response was ever received. In any case, the matter did not go any further, the Spanish anger remained suspended in time and now, after a long time, there was nothing left but an anecdote.