After the Lebanese local media went berserk in its reaction on the topless photos of skier Jackie Chamoun, the Olympian has issued a public apology on her Facebook page.
Even as Jackie Chamoun currently is in Sochi, the Lebanese local media published the video and pictures from a photo shoot that she and fellow Lebanese Olympic skier Chirine Njeim had done three years back for the annual Ski Instructors calendar at the Faraya ski resort outside of Beirut.
The 2014 calendar has been out since November, but cashing in on the publicity surrounding the Skier, the local news media published the news calling it a scandal. The news soon was picked up by other local channels. The matter has escalated so much that now the Lebanese Youth and Sport Ministry has asked the Olympic committee to look into the case.
Skier Jackie Chamoun,whose topless pictures have now gone viral on the internet offered a public apology over the incident on her Facebook page.
" I just want to make it clear to everyone who commented, shared the photos that appeared on the net in Lebanon yesterday. Yes I did photos for an Austrian ski calendar with other professional athletes 3 years ago. The photos of the photoshoot are not like the actual images that are now circulating on the net. The video and photos that you are now seeing are part of the making off, the preparation, it wasn't supposed to go public. Anyways, I want to apologize to all of you, I know that Lebanon is a conservative country and this is not the image that reflects our culture. I fully understand if you want to criticise this," she said.
In her apology, she observed that the indiscriminate sharing of her pictures was 'sad.'
"Now that I'm at the Olympic Games, these photos that I never saw before are being shared. It is sad. All I can ask to each of you who saw this, is to stop spreading it, it will really help me focusing on what is really important now: my trainings and race," Chamoun added.
