Greek triple-jumper expelled from London for racist tweet

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Greek triple-jumper expelled from London for racist tweet

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-blogs/track-and-field/greek-triple-jumper-expelled-from-london-for-racist-tweet.html



ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Triple jumper Voula Papachristou was expelled from Greece's Olympic team Wednesday for her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right party.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee said Wednesday that Papachristou had been excluded from the team "for statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement."

Papachristou's Twitter account ((at)papaxristoutj) contains several retweets and postings of YouTube videos promoting the views of Golden Dawn, a formerly marginal extreme right party that entered the Greek Parliament in the recent two national elections — in May and June this year — by polling almost 7 percent of the vote.

But it was her attempt at a joke Sunday that went viral. Commenting on the widely reported appearance of Nile-virus-carrying mosquitoes in Athens, Papachristou wrote: "With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!!!". Her tweet prompted thousands of negative comments that snowballed Wednesday.

[nc4bo]

1. And Mitt Romney should receive the same type of treatment.

Greece did the right thing.

Adios Senorita.

[siligut]

2. This should happen more often

t might be difficult to punish attitudes/ideology the way we can punish behavior, but it would go a long way toward shaping a better world.