Tweet gets Greek athlete kicked off Olympic team

A Greek Olympic athlete has been thrown off the official team after a racist tweet caught the eye of the Greek government

Jeremy Proome

July 26, 2012

An Olympic athlete has been banned from competing in the London Games after a tweet she sent was deemed offensive by the Hellenic Olympic Committee.

Voula Papachristou, Greece’s triple-jump champion tweeted: “with so many Africans in Greece, at least the West Nile mosquitos will be eating food from their own home.”

The Democratic Left, one of the three parties in the Greek government, issued a condemnation of Papachristou’s tweet:

“Racist humor and ”jokes” concerning human lives are not tolerated by the Greek society, [and] can not thrive in Greek athletics. The least the Greek Olympic Committee can do now is to revoke Ms Voula Papachristou from the Olympic Games. Watching the Olympics on TV screen, she could do as many vile ”jokes” she wants through the social media. But for sure, she can not represent Greece in London.”

Papachristou did apologise, however, her ban from travelling to London for the Olympic games still stands.

“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.”