Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou was withdrawn from the London Olympics on Wednesday once inflicting an uproar at home for a tweet slammed as racist, the Greek Olympics team said.
"With such a big amount of Africans in Greece... the West Nile mosquitoes can a minimum of eat homemade food!!!" she had posted on her Twitter account.
The country's Olympic Committee said she was being pulled from the team as a result of her comments were against the Olympic spirit.
"She showed no respect for a basic Olympic price and sadly she is out," Greek mission chief Isidoros Kouvelos told SKAI TV. "She created an error and in life we have a tendency to pay money for our mistakes."
The 23-year-old athlete, who was scheduled to depart for her 1st Olympics next week, later apologised for what she said was "an unfortunate and tasteless joke".
"I am terribly sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wished to offend anyone," Papachristou, a blonde-haired athlete who sports a navel piercing, wrote on her Facebook page in Greek and English.
"My dream is connected to the Olympic Games and that i couldn't presumably participate if I didn't respect their values."
The Athens-born athlete was an extended shot for a medal with a season's better of fourteen.58 metres, virtually [*fr1] a metre behind the planet leaders.
Papachristou's coach attacked the choice to expel her, saying it absolutely was too harsh a sanction for somebody who had already apologised.
"It's an excessive amount of, the penalty mustn't are therefore strict," George Pomaski told Reuters.
"This may be a massive disappointment not just for her except for her family and for myself and anyone concerned within the Greek team."
One man has died in an exceedingly little outbreak of the West Nile virus in Athens this month and a minimum of 5 different cases are reported, Greece's disease management and prevention body said.
Papachristou's withdrawal may be a blow for Greece, that hoped its Olympics team would be a supply of pride for an austerity-hit nation deeply hurting from a debt crisis.
Greece is sending a hundred and five competitors in sixteen sports to the London Olympics starting on Friday.
"VILE JOKE"
Papachristou's tweet looked as if it would divide opinions in Greece, that has long struggled with an influx of illegal immigrants from Africa and Asia and has seen a pointy rise in anti-immigrant sentiment amid its economic crisis.
Those who pushed for her expulsion included the co-ruling Democratic Left party.
"She will create as several vile 'jokes' as she likes on social networking sites when she watches the Olympic Games on TV," it said in an exceedingly statement.
"But she definitely cannot represent Greece in London."
However, many fans rushed to Papachristou's defence, flooding her Facebook page with messages of support.
A group titled "We wish Voula Papachristou in London" was created at intervals minutes of the announcement and shortly counted over two,000 fans.
"Since when is clever humour a crime?" one fan posted. "Making mistakes is human. Recognising our mistakes demands character and compassion," another wrote.
Papachristou finished eleventh in last month's European championships in Helsinki with a jump of thirteen.89 and didn't create the ultimate within the 2011 world championships.
In 2009 she qualified for the ultimate of the eu indoor championships with the second-longest jump however then didn't register a jump within the final.
"With such a big amount of Africans in Greece... the West Nile mosquitoes can a minimum of eat homemade food!!!" she had posted on her Twitter account.
The country's Olympic Committee said she was being pulled from the team as a result of her comments were against the Olympic spirit.
"She showed no respect for a basic Olympic price and sadly she is out," Greek mission chief Isidoros Kouvelos told SKAI TV. "She created an error and in life we have a tendency to pay money for our mistakes."
The 23-year-old athlete, who was scheduled to depart for her 1st Olympics next week, later apologised for what she said was "an unfortunate and tasteless joke".
"I am terribly sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wished to offend anyone," Papachristou, a blonde-haired athlete who sports a navel piercing, wrote on her Facebook page in Greek and English.
"My dream is connected to the Olympic Games and that i couldn't presumably participate if I didn't respect their values."
The Athens-born athlete was an extended shot for a medal with a season's better of fourteen.58 metres, virtually [*fr1] a metre behind the planet leaders.
Papachristou's coach attacked the choice to expel her, saying it absolutely was too harsh a sanction for somebody who had already apologised.
"It's an excessive amount of, the penalty mustn't are therefore strict," George Pomaski told Reuters.
"This may be a massive disappointment not just for her except for her family and for myself and anyone concerned within the Greek team."
One man has died in an exceedingly little outbreak of the West Nile virus in Athens this month and a minimum of 5 different cases are reported, Greece's disease management and prevention body said.
Papachristou's withdrawal may be a blow for Greece, that hoped its Olympics team would be a supply of pride for an austerity-hit nation deeply hurting from a debt crisis.
Greece is sending a hundred and five competitors in sixteen sports to the London Olympics starting on Friday.
"VILE JOKE"
Papachristou's tweet looked as if it would divide opinions in Greece, that has long struggled with an influx of illegal immigrants from Africa and Asia and has seen a pointy rise in anti-immigrant sentiment amid its economic crisis.
Those who pushed for her expulsion included the co-ruling Democratic Left party.
"She will create as several vile 'jokes' as she likes on social networking sites when she watches the Olympic Games on TV," it said in an exceedingly statement.
"But she definitely cannot represent Greece in London."
However, many fans rushed to Papachristou's defence, flooding her Facebook page with messages of support.
A group titled "We wish Voula Papachristou in London" was created at intervals minutes of the announcement and shortly counted over two,000 fans.
"Since when is clever humour a crime?" one fan posted. "Making mistakes is human. Recognising our mistakes demands character and compassion," another wrote.
Papachristou finished eleventh in last month's European championships in Helsinki with a jump of thirteen.89 and didn't create the ultimate within the 2011 world championships.
In 2009 she qualified for the ultimate of the eu indoor championships with the second-longest jump however then didn't register a jump within the final.
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