Greek athlete pulled from Olympic team after tweet
by Reuters
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Just days before the start of the London Olympics, and a Greek triple jumper has been pulled from the national team.
Paraskevi Papachristou was withdrawn after causing an uproar for posting a tweet slammed as racist.
Despite apologising, the 23-year-old will now have to watch the Games from home.
Some have called the punishment extreme. But the International Olympic Committee appeared to support the decision.
SOUNDBITE: THE IOC DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, MARK ADAMS, SAYING (English):
"Well clearly this is a matter for the Greek NOC and they take the decision, they presumably felt they were right. All I can say is not commenting on this particular one but clearly if they're breaking the Olympic Charter then that's the right thing to do."
Her expulsion is expected to act as a warning to other athletes to think before they tweet.
Social media users have been urged to stick to the Olympic Charter, which condemns any discrimination.
Imogen Bankier is a badminton player for Team GB.
SOUNDBITE: IMOGEN BANKIER, TEAM GB BADMINTON PLAYER, SAYING (English):
"I did actually see that, on Twitter ironically enough. The thing is you have to be careful with the social media side of things - certainly the decision to tweet or not tweet, and certainly what you say. I meant that wasn't, doesn't sound very smart. But hopefully nobody from GB will do anything like that and hopefully it won't be a problem."
The withdrawal is a blow for Greece - hoping for a source of pride for a nation still struggling with the debt crisis.
Sarah Charlton, Reuters.
Paraskevi Papachristou was withdrawn after causing an uproar for posting a tweet slammed as racist.
Despite apologising, the 23-year-old will now have to watch the Games from home.
Some have called the punishment extreme. But the International Olympic Committee appeared to support the decision.
SOUNDBITE: THE IOC DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, MARK ADAMS, SAYING (English):
"Well clearly this is a matter for the Greek NOC and they take the decision, they presumably felt they were right. All I can say is not commenting on this particular one but clearly if they're breaking the Olympic Charter then that's the right thing to do."
Her expulsion is expected to act as a warning to other athletes to think before they tweet.
Social media users have been urged to stick to the Olympic Charter, which condemns any discrimination.
Imogen Bankier is a badminton player for Team GB.
SOUNDBITE: IMOGEN BANKIER, TEAM GB BADMINTON PLAYER, SAYING (English):
"I did actually see that, on Twitter ironically enough. The thing is you have to be careful with the social media side of things - certainly the decision to tweet or not tweet, and certainly what you say. I meant that wasn't, doesn't sound very smart. But hopefully nobody from GB will do anything like that and hopefully it won't be a problem."
The withdrawal is a blow for Greece - hoping for a source of pride for a nation still struggling with the debt crisis.
Sarah Charlton, Reuters.