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Greek Olympian Expelled Over Racist Tweet


Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou was withdrawn from the London Olympic Games after causing an uproar at home for tweeting what was seen as a racist slur, July 30, 2011.
Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou was withdrawn from the London Olympic Games after causing an uproar at home for tweeting what was seen as a racist slur, July 30, 2011.
A member of the Greek Olympic team has been expelled from the Olympic games for a posting a racist comment on Twitter.

Triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou commented about immigrants in Athens saying, "with so many of Africans in Greece, the West Nile virus mosquitoes will at least be eating some home made food."

The submission on Twitter created a negative backlash in Greece followed by her expulsion from the games Wednesday by an Olympic committee.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says athletes are allowed to use social media, including posting blogs and tweets, that are not offensive, discriminatory, obscene.

The IOC says athletes had been made aware that violation of the the rules could result in a disqualification from the games.

Papachristou has apologized for her ill advised comments.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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