Olympics

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

'Joke' tweet ousts Greek

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 07/26/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

LONDON -- The Twitter Olympics have begun, and Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou is the first casualty.

Papachristou has been expelled from the London Games by Greece for her Twitter comments on African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right party. Papachristou, 23, from Athens, was to compete in her first Games.

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The IOC has strict guidelines on what athletes can say in social media. This is the first case of an athlete being expelled from an Olympics for social media use.

The tweet that got Papachristou in trouble was posted July 22: "So many Africans in Greece at least West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food"

She apologized on Twitter and Facebook. "I would like to express my heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate and tasteless joke... I never wanted to offend anyone, or to encroach human rights.

-- USA Today

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 26, 2012 C4

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