Twitter Olympics claims first athlete: Voula Papachristou dropped for ‘racist’ tweet
THE Twitter Olympics are underway, and we’ve got our first victim: Voula Papachristou, a Greek triple jumper, told her twitter followers:
“With so many Africans in Greece… At least the West Nile mosquitoes will eat home made food!!!”
She appears to be a supporter of Greece’s popular Nazi-style Golden Dawn Party. Her twitter blog @papaxristoutj features retweets and YouTube videos of Golden Dawn stuff. After her ‘joke’ came to light, Papachristou tweeted:
“That’s how I am. I laugh. I am not a CD to get stuck!!! And if I make mistakes, I don’t press the replay! I press Play and move on!!!”
Today she tweeted:
“I would like to express my heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate and tasteless joke I published on my personal Twitter account. I am very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wanted to offend anyone, or to encroach human rights. My dream is connected to the Olympic Games and I could not possibly participate if I did not respect their values. Therefore, I could never believe in discrimination between human beings and races. I would like to apologize to all my friends and fellow athletes, who I may have insulted or shamed, the National Team, as well as the people and companies who support my athletic career. Finally, I would like to apologize to my coach and my family.”
And with that the Greek Olympic Committee dropped her from the team. Isidoros Kouvelos, head of the Greek Olympic mission, opined:
“She showed no respect for a basic Olympic value and unfortunately she is out. She made a mistake and in life we pay for our mistakes.”
Bit odd. It’s okay to pick an athlete who supports a racist party but only if she says nothing that could be construed as racist?
Posted: 25th, July 2012 | In: Sports Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
