Fernando Zylberberg (born June 30, 1977) is a retired

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

player from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

Biography

Zylberberg was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. With the National team, he made his debut in 1997 and competed for his native country at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

and

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. After a short spell at Dutch club Hurley, he played at Atlético San Sebastián, in Spain.

Special participation on television

In May 2012, a television advertisement emerged by made by

Young & Rubicam VMLY&R is an American marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting, formed from the merger of VML, founded in 1992, and Young & Rubica ...

, an American advertisement agency owned by the British agency

WPP plc WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It was the world's largest advertising company, as of 2019. WPP plc owns many compan ...

and made on behalf of the Argentine Presidency, entitled ''Olympic Games 2012: Homage to the Fallen and the Veterans of the Malvinas'', featured Zylberberg training in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

.
Report by Peru News] The video features Zylberberg outside the Globe Tavern, doing dips on benches, then running past a British

red telephone box The red telephone box, a telephone kiosk for a public telephone designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, is a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar. Despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, ...

. He then carries out step-ups on the islands' Great War Memorial honouring British sailors who died battling the German fleet in 1914, and finally ends with the quote "'" ("To compete on English soil, we are training on Argentine soil."). Zylberberg entered the Falkland Islands on the pretext that he would be taking part in a marathon on the island. Zylberberg stated that his feature in the video conveys his country's feelings over the islands, stating "The message is that to every Argentine the islands belong to Argentina. To me to be training in any other province or to do it over the islands is the same,". The clip was first aired on May 2, the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the

ARA General Belgrano ARA ''General Belgrano'' (C-4) was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982. Originally commissioned by the U.S. as , she saw action in the Pacific theatre of World War II before being sold by the United States to Argent ...

, involving the death of 323 troops, nearly half of Argentina's total 649 losses during the Falklands conflict. The advert drew protest from the Falkland Islands government, the

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

and within Argentina, both for the film's political aspects, and also that Zylberberg climbed over a British

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

. On 4 May 2012, the advertising agency responsible issued a public apology. The

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

criticised Argentina, stating that the Olympic games should not be used as a forum to raise political issues. The president of the Argentine Olympic Committee, Gerardo Werthein issued a statement: "Using the Olympic Games to make political gestures of any kind is not acceptable and we will conduct ourselves in the proper spirit of Olympism in all that we do in London and elsewhere". It was revealed on May 9 that Zylberberg was to be dropped from the final Olympic warm-up event before the Olympic games and as a result, miss the games altogether. His absence from the squad was attributed by his coach, Pablo Rossi, to "sporting reasons," and that Zylberberg "had not been able to complete all the necessary steps in pre-season". However there is speculation that Zylberberg was dropped to avoid adverse attention to the team and potential media frenzy when players land in London in July 2012. As a result of his involvement with the advertisement, Zylberberg was also the subject of online threats.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zylberberg, Shilo 1977 births Living people Argentine Jews Argentine male field hockey players Olympic field hockey players for Argentina Field hockey players from Buenos Aires Field hockey players at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2002 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2011 Pan American Games Jewish Argentine sportspeople Jewish sportspeople Argentine people of German-Jewish descent Argentine people of German descent Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Pan American Games silver medalists for Argentina Pan American Games medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games 21st-century Argentine people