Greek Triple Jumper Removed from Olympic Team After Twitter Comment

The 2012 London Olympic Games are still two days away, but controversy has already begun to flare up.

According to Demtris Nellas of the Associated Press (via NBC), Voula Papachristou—a Greek triple jumper—has been expelled from her nation’s team after causing an uproar with her Twitter comments concerning African immigrants and her political stance.

The tweet, originally written in Greek, can be seen here and translates into English as follows:

“With so many Africans in Greece…at least the West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food!!!”

"

Με τόσους Αφρικανούς στην Ελλάδα..Τουλάχιστον τα κουνούπια του δυτικού Νείλου..θα τρώνε σπιτικό φαγητό!!!

— βούλα Παπαχρήστου (@papaxristoutj) July 22, 2012"

This comment, coupled with her support of Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party (as evidenced by retweets and YouTube posts of their propaganda on her feed), had many from the Democratic Left party calling for her ousting from the team.

The triple jumper issued a seemingly sincere apology three days after posting the initial message that sparked all of the controversy:

"

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.

"

That obviously wasn’t enough for the Hellenic Olympic Committee, and the group explained that Papachristou has been “placed outside the Olympic team for statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement."

It’s unfortunate that the young athlete spent so much time training and preparing for this event but made a terrible decision that will cost her a chance at glory.