Greece expels Olympic athlete over racist comments & support for the Golden Dawn
Greece has removed triple jumper Voula Papachristou from the country’s team at the London Olympics over her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for the far-right party Golden Dawn.
Papachristou’s tweet prompted calls from political parties to cancel her participation for tweeting the offending message.
“With so many Africans in Greece… the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!!!” she had posted on her Twitter account.
The Hellenic Olympic Committee said in a statement Wednesday that Papachristou is “placed outside the Olympic team for statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement.”
The head of the Greek Olympic mission said she had violated Olympic values and could no longer be on the team.
“She showed no respect for a basic Olympic value and unfortunately she is out,” Isidoros Kouvelos told Greek SKAI TV. “She made a mistake and in life we pay for our mistakes.”
The 23-year-old athlete said in a lengthy apology on Wednesday the comment was “an unfortunate and tasteless joke.”
Reproduced via -
http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/greece-expels-olympic-athlete-over-racist-comments-support-for-far-right-on-twitter-1.453625
Call out the troops for a great anti free speech victory. What a crew!
your busy tonight Tom! you back on the Meth??
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite5_1_26/07/2012_453915
Sleepless Papachristou says exclusion excessive
Greek athlete says decision speed and process of her exclusion unfair
Jul 26, 2012
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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_26/07/2012_453854
Golden Dawn slams Papachristou ban
Jul 26, 2012
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http://t.co/Cf20lpjK
http://bit.ly/O9Xl2M
Pic from her Twitter account with a Golden Dawn symbol and the phrase “Molon labe”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molon_labe