The Malta Independent 25 April 2024, Thursday
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Olympics – Women’s football: Brazil’s Marta annoyed by problems with translator

Malta Independent Sunday, 17 August 2008, 00:00 Last update: about 11 years ago

Midfielder Marta was upset after an official translator changed her quotes in a press conference after Brazil’s 2-1 quarter-final victory over Norway.

Marta was asked, in Portuguese, whether she thought she was being targeted by defenders in this year’s Olympic football tournament, and her reply was along the lines that it was natural players were marking her closely.

After the answer was translated into Chinese and then English, her answer came out completely different.

“I don’t think I’m the best forward in the world. I’m just here to do a job for the team,” the translator quoted following Friday’s match.

Marta, who understands some English, told Brazilian media that she had not said anything like that, according to the Terra Web site.

Marta complained again after another one of her answers was badly translated, and the interpreters eventually stopped the translations. That prompted the international media to become upset, and the press conference was suddenly cut short.

The Associated Press did not use any of the quotes Marta said were wrong, but FIFA.com, the Web site for football’s governing body, published one of them.

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