BEIJING - Players on Spain's Olympic basketball team defended a photo in an ad showing the players using their fingers to apparently make their eyes look more Chinese.
The photo, which has been running as a newspaper spread in Spain since Friday, shows all 15 players making the gesture on a basketball court adorned with a Chinese dragon. The photo was part of a publicity campaign for team sponsor Seur and is being used only in Spain.
''It was something like supposed to be funny or something but never offensive in any way,'' said Spain centre Pau Gasol, who also plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. ''I'm sorry if anybody thought or took it the wrong way and thought that it was offensive.''
Point guard Jose Calderon 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,'' Calderon, who plays for the Toronto Raptors, wrote on his ElMundo.es blog. ''Without a doubt, some ... press didn't see it that way.''
International media criticized the photo. London's Daily Telegraph said Spain's ''poor reputation for insensitivity toward racial issues has been further harmed'' by the photo.
''This was clearly inappropriate, but we understand the Spanish team intended no offence and has apologized,'' Emmanuelle Moreau, a spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee, said in an email. ''The matter rests there as far as the IOC is concerned.''
The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) also found the photo disturbing and called on the teams to apologize.
''This photo is deeply offensive and racist - it's surprising that members of an Olympic team preparing for the Games in Beijing of all places would show such poor judgement,'' Victor Wong, CCNC Executive Director said in a statement.
''The Spanish Olympic Basketball teams owe a full and unconditional apology to their hosts, to their fellow Spanish citizens and to the people that they have offended and disappointed with this photo.''
The Spanish women's basketball team also posed for photo doing the same thing, and four members of Argentina's women's Olympic football team were shown making similar faces in a photograph published last week.
Gasol said it was ''absurd'' people were calling the gesture racist.
''We never intended anything like that,'' he said.
The Spanish basketball federation declined to comment Wednesday.
''We're surprised by the remarks of racism,'' said Juan Antonio Villanueva, the communications director for the city's 2016 Olympic bid. ''Spain is not a racist country - quite the opposite.
''The players explained what happened,'' Villanueva said. ''We think that's enough.''
A Seur official in Madrid said the company had not intended to offend the Chinese people, but has no immediate plans to withdraw the ad, which is scheduled to run on selected days until the end of the games.
Seur has not received any formal protest or complaint from Chinese authorities, the official said on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly about the situation.
It's not the first time Spanish sports has encountered questions over racist attitudes, and the photo comes at a time when Madrid is vying to host the Olympics.
Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton was subjected to abuse at a Barcelona circuit in February, while former Spain coach Luis Aragones also used a racist remark about France striker Thierry Henry to motivate one of his players. Monkey chants rained down on England's black players during an international friendly against Spain in a match played in Madrid in 2004, soon after Aragones' outburst.
The federation had just signed a four-year contract extension with Chinese clothing brand Li-Ning shortly after arriving in the Chinese capital for the games.
''We have great respect for the far East and its people, some of my best friends in Toronto are originally Chinese, including one of our sponsors, the brand Li-Ning,'' Calderon wrote. ''Whoever wants to interpret it differently is completely confusing it.''
''Li Ning Ltd. will not change any business plans with the Spanish team because of this,'' Zhang added. ''People should focus on great Olympic Games instead of something else.''
World champion Spain is 2-0 at the Olympics after rallying to beat China 85-75 Tuesday while consistently getting booed.