Greek triple jumper withdrawn for racist tweet

Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou was withdrawn from the London Olympics on Wednesday once inflicting an uproar at home for a tweet slammed as racist, the Greek Olympics team said.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.

North Korean womens soccer team delays match

In did not take long for the primary controversy of the London Olympics.
As 1st reported by Daily News reporter Frank Isola on Twitter, the North Korean women's soccer team refused to require the sphere for its 1st Olympic match vs. Colombia as a result of the South Korean flag is flying in Hampden Park in Glasgow. The North Koreans conjointly took exception to the very fact that the incorrect Korean flag was being displayed on the scoreboard before the beginning of warmups. The scoreboard has since been corrected.
While the flag of South Korea is flying over the stadium, therefore is that the flag for North Korea. Flags for all the groups within the men's and women's soccer competition are being displayed.
An announcement was created within the stadium explaining the delay, saying "there is a difficulty behind the scenes." alittle cluster of North Korean fans left the stadium as different fans booed.
Both groups eventually took the sphere for warmups regarding forty five minutes once the match was imagined to begin.
In a political candidate statement Olympic organizers apologized for the error.

"Today before the women's soccer match at Hampden Park, the South Korean flag was shown on an enormous screen video package rather than the North Korean flag. Clearly, that's an error, we are going to apologise (sic) to the team and also the National Olympic Committee and steps are going to be taken to make sure this doesn't happen once more."
The U.S. is scheduled to play North Korea in Manchester, England next week.

USA beat France in Olympics 2012

Welcome to the  minute by minute gap ceremony for the 2012 Olympic soccer tournament. Predating the official games gap by a few of days, our version is an equally vibrant and spectacular gap warrant the best show on earth. It's edgy and fashionable and combines the pyrotechnic awe of Beijing with the whimsy of 1,000,000 below the road comments. And it's undoubtedly NOT simply a man with a laptop hoping the wifi holds up.


OK, let's skip the spectacle and obtain straight to the game - we're starting up the women's Olympic soccer these days and we're not messing regarding - nice Britain have gotten us underway against New Zealand, and currently the Gold medal favorites, the USA, are beginning their campaign against a French facet who aren't any slouches themselves. the 2 sides met in competition simply last year, of course, within the semi-finals of the planet Cup. The USA won that one (despite being given lots of issues by a awfully technically astute French side), and if Abby Wambach repeats her World Cup type, or Alex Morgan continues her fantastic goalscoring streak, they will fancy their probabilities of beginning their tournament with another win these days. France though, have all that ability on the ball, and a world category playmaker in Louisa Nécib, and if they have any longer inspiration on what's attainable, they need solely to appear at what happened to the US ladies against Japan in last year's World Cup Final.

Ah yes, Japan. Having dispatched Brazil (and Marta) with Wambach's famous last minute goal within the quarter finals, then prevailing against an rising French facet who were one amongst the harmful dark horses in last year's tournament, the US came up against a Japan facet whose fairy tale run was expected to finish within the final. Instead the japanese scored a late equalizer and won on penalties, as team USA continued their strange streak of alternating between World Cup (1999) and Olympic (1996, 2004, 2008) wins, however never quite managing to carry each titles promptly.

Sadly for his or her opponents, the loss to Japan solely looks to own strengthened the US women's resolve to try to to things right this year. They've looked in pretty typeidable form as they struggle to try to to simply that - and memorably beat the planet champions 4-1 in an exceedingly friendly in Sweden last month to hopefully lay the ghost of Frankfurt to rest. therefore they are in an exceedingly assured and determined mood as they hit Britain. will France dent that confidence? perhaps. this can be slightly begin for each side.

Womens soccer clash in olympics 2112

The thirtieth Summer Olympic Games officially opened this afternoon and there was an ideal begin for Team GB because the women's soccer team beat New Zealand 1-0.
But organsiers were forced to create a grovelling apology to the North Korean team who refused to start out theIR match against Colombia when the South Korean flag was displayed by mistake.
In the British match a free-kick from Steph Houghton once sixty five minutes split the perimeters at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, though the bottom was solely half-full for Britain's historic debut within the competition.


Talking regarding the mix-up with the North Korean flag organisers said: 'Today before the women's soccer match at Hampden Park, the South Korean flag was shown on an enormous screen video package rather than the North Korean flag.

'Clearly that's an error. we are going to apologize to the team and also the National Olympic Committee and steps are going to be taken to make sure this doesn't happen once more.'
The match against Colombia was delayed over an hour and was scheduled to start out shortly.

Despite all the organisers' claims that the Olympics would sell-out, Team GB commenced the London Games in front of swathes of empty seats.
But those in attendance saw a winning begin, as Houghton's excellent 25-yard free-kick proved the distinction in an exceedingly tightly-fought match.
Officially, an estimated forty,000 tickets had been sold - which might be a record for a women's soccer international in Britain - however there have been huge swathes of empty seats when the match began as fans drifted into the stadium.


Those that did arrive early would not are too impressed by a goalless first-half, however nice Britain gained the higher hand once half-time.
As of yesterday, 36,200 tickets had been sold prior to - just enough to fill 2 tiers of the seventy four,000-capacity stadium - with some thousand expected to select up £20 seats on the gate to observe Hope Powell's team.
The unfilled seats would have come back as a disappointment for Games organiser Lord Coe, who was in Cardiff to officially declare the Olympics open.
He said: 'We are prepared, the state is prepared - let the Games begin.

'It has been an extended journey however I’m convinced these games can raise the state and convey the country along.
'We’ve proved the doubters wrong by obtaining everything prepared on time and we’re wanting forward to creating these Olympics a large success.
'When I arrived in Cardiff I felt I had arrived in an exceedinglyn Olympic town - this can be the beginning of the Games in a fantastic setting.
'We haven’t left any stone unturned in giving the athletes the platform on that to perform.'
Millennium Stadium general manager Gerry Toms stressed the historic nature of the occasion as a Team GB women's soccer team played within the Olympics for the primary time.
He said: 'There was some criticism that price tag sales were slow.
'But a traditional women’s soccer game would attract regarding vi,000-8,000 and that we are near forty,000.
'Clearly there's an interest within the soccer and also the Olympics. folks that aren't normally soccer fans wish to be ready to say that they were there.'

Meanwhile, 41,000 are going to be at Hampden Park in Glasgow this evening for a women's soccer double-header of the u.  s. v France and North Korea v Columbia.
While this can fill most of the fifty two,000-seater Scottish national stadium, only 6,500 of the tickets have truly been sold.
The remainder are given away to charities, youth teams and sports clubs.
Organisers said overall eighty,000 free tickets had been distributed for Hampden's eight Olympic matches.
Two different games are going to be played these days at the town of Coventry Stadium, that holds thirty two,500.
The Millennium stadium had been cleaned and freshly painted for the occasion, the acquainted red of the Welsh national rugby and soccer groups replaced by purple Olympic paraphernalia.


Cardiff likes to shout regarding its sporting pedigree, and rightly therefore. Team GB boast a record variety of Welsh athletes — thirty (which beats the twenty seven who appeared in 1908) — together with 2 captains: Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs and four hundred metres hurdles world champion Dai Greene.
A giant set of Olympic rings, measuring 18m x 8m (59ft x 26ft), has been outside the town Hall since late April. Huge crowds cheered the Olympic torch when it visited Cardiff in could.


About £160,000 of taxpayers’ cash has been spent on ‘cleansing and animating’ the town centre, that is prettily wearing bunting to mark the eleven soccer matches it'll hold over future sixteen days.
But this hasn't translated into price tag sales. Tickets are going to be offered on the gate these days, beginning at £20 with below 16s paying their age.
The ease of catching a train from London conjointly suggests that the town has seen solely a modest rise in hotel bookings.

London boasts of costliest Olympic medals

The eight a lot of gold, silver and copper unearthed from mines in Mongolia and Utah and currently underneath guard at the Tower of London is that the largest ever haul used to form Olympic medals.

Olympics 2012 | Schedule | India at Olympics | Medals Tally

"The medals found out the tower on July a pair of, and that we can keep them underneath tight security" Tracey Sands, spokeswoman for Historic Royal Palaces, said.

The 4,700 Olympic and Paralympic medals are guarded alongside Britain's crown jewels till they're presented on stage.

"For centuries the Tower of London has protected a number of this country's greatest treasures therefore there are often no higher sanctuary for the 2012 medals - the foremost precious possession any athlete may hope to possess," said London Mayor Boris Johnson.

The winners' medals are actually precious, despite the fact that gold solely makes up a little portion of their alloy.

A gold medal weighing regarding 410 grams contains solely six grams of gold - one.34 p.c of its weight - the rest being silver compound (92.5 percent) and copper.

However, the recent gold and silver booms that have seen costs double since the 2008 Games in Beijing make sure that the medals are the foremost expensive in Olympic history.

Added to the present, the scale of the London medals (85 millimetres in diameter and 7 millimetres thick) create them the heaviest ever struck for the Summer Olympics.

In Beijing, the medals were around 0.5 as significant at two hundred grams.

But the London medals stay below the record set by the Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010, where the medals weighed up to 576 grams.

British artist David Watkins designed the medals, that depict Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.

The reverse bears the London Games brand in front of a radiating star motif, representing the spirit and tradition of the Olympics, and therefore the River Thames, for town of London.

"If there is the slightest blemish, we have a tendency to reject them," said Fergus Feeney, programme director at the one,000-year-old Royal Mint, that produces Britain's currency and created the Olympic medals.

The coveted discs were every processed fifteen times in a very huge hydraulic press called the Colossus.

The gold, silver and copper was extracted by Anglo-Australian world mining large Rio Tinto from its Oyu Tolgoi plant in Mongolia and therefore the Kennecott mine in Utah within the u.  s..

The choice was controversial as its extraction techniques in Utah are thought-about by some to be polluting.

"Rio Tinto isn't Olympic calibre in its behaviour toward its own staff and their families," said Ken Neumann, national director in Canada of the United Steelworkers trade union.

At least the winning athletes are often assured the medals are higher than those issued the last time London hosted the Olympics in 1948.

Then, post-war austerity meant that the medals were of poor quality and required regular regilding.

Twitter in London Olympics 2012

A modern titan has come back to challenge the mythic figure therefore usually invoked within the Olympics.

The ancient games might are introduced in honor of Zeus quite a pair of 1/2 millenniums ago. In 2012 London, however, the Greek king of gods stands to be upstaged by the unimposing very little blue birdie of Twitter.

Twitter tweets, Facebook standing updates, email updates and therefore the remainder of the ways that folks instantly exchange info have created it inevitable that NBC would ought to bend to new realities instead of cling to tradition.


Much of the TV network's Olympics programming are because it has been for quite a half-century, together with the tape-delayed prime-time coverage fastidiously packaged for max drama and reach.

But to satisfy people who may not mind adjusting their sleep habits or spending their lunch hour glued to a pill, it conjointly can create a live video stream of each Olympic sport for the primary time to quite one hundred million cable, satellite and telco customers who register via NBCOlympics.com, furthermore as a special NBC Olympics app.

There will not be the assembly polish usually seen on the network, and sister retailers like Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo and NBC Sports Network. however it's still quite three,500 hours of live content at no cost, unless you are among people who do not pay money for tv service.

"It's an easy, simple business call that currently has been changed, I think, in an enlightened thanks to permit for the changes within the means folks consume info," NBC host Bob Costas said at a recent event with reporters.

"In the past perhaps the technology wasn't there to support that" commitment to measure streaming, added Mark Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Sports cluster. "We suppose that the streaming throughout the day can facilitate drive folks to prime time. ... It will not be packaged a similar on-line and live throughout the day (as in prime time). it'll be largely utilizing world feed, with some … lesser saying."

Few establishments prefer to wrap themselves within the past the maximum amount because the trendy Olympics, and therefore the networks that pay several millions for exclusive broadcast rights like to invoke their long tradition.

But the games and therefore the broadcast partners aren't any a lot of resistant to the pressures to adapt to trendy realities than any enterprise, whether or not it's restaurants tweaking their fare to fulfill changing tastes or factories realigning their workforce as dictated by new technology and market demands.

Holding back video is as pointless as anticipating Pheidippides to arrive in Athens for the results of the Battle of Marathon when nowadays the story would be obtainable live on-line, on mobile phones and tablets because it happened.

Twenty years ago, NBC thought it might satisfy demand for a lot of complete, live coverage in differently. It offered to supplement the one61 hours of largely taped coverage on free over-the-air TV from the 1992 games in Barcelona with 1,080 hours of programming unfold over 3 pay-cable channels for $125, or $29.95 a day.

Projections involved a pair of million subscribers to shop for in to the so-called TripleCast. A mere 125,000 took the bait.

NBC has said it does not expect to form cash on the London games. serving to to justify the expanded internet commitment is that the latest installment in an expansive analysis tool the network has dubbed "The Billion dollar Lab," tracking how viewers use totally different media platforms.

"We will live things we have a tendency to normally cannot live, and … we are able to see trends and behaviors rising and evolving over time, (which) provides us an excellent insight in seeing the longer term of media consumption," said Alan Wurtzel, president of analysis and media development for NBCUniversal. "What cross platform is, and it is the holy grail that won't extremely being measured straight away, is that the ability to require a personal, and perceive how they consume content — during this case the Olympics — on tv, on laptop net, on mobile, and on pill."

Among alternative things, Wurtzel said, "This are the primary Twitter Olympics, and we're getting to pay lots of your time making an attempt to grasp how folks are connecting with one another, and what it means that."

James Webster, a professor of communication studies at Northwestern University who has written extensively on changing media consumption patterns across digital platforms, has seen Twitter's water-cooler impact work to spice up viewership as folks tip their friends to one thing they've seen or expect to examine.

But he notes the Twitter impact is even a lot of possible to draw folks into the a lot of lucrative prime-time NBC coverage than the live on-line stream.

"The factor to recollect is that tv audiences, even in an age of anywhere-anytime consumption, are still driven by things like audience availability," Webster said. "Most folks are within the habit of returning home and watching stuff on TV in prime time. There are some folks that can watch within the wee hours of the night on their laptop, however I still suppose the overwhelming majority of the audience is tied into the linear delivery that we've all gotten used to."

In any case, there is a new Olympics mindset that has come back to power.

"There are traditionalists … who say, 'Now wait a moment, watch out regarding cannibalization,'" Steve Burke, put in last year as chief govt of NBCUniversal when Comcast gained management, told reporters. "But, in a very extremely highly fragmented world, i feel a lot of is best if it's done the proper means. they are complementary. the various (platforms) promote one another (if you) do it the proper means, and i am terribly optimistic that we're getting to prove that in London."

Serena Williams is at center of U.S. tennis story

If she wins the women's singles at the Games she is going to be the primary to win all Grand Slam events a minimum of once and Olympic singles and doubles gold. 'I do not suppose I knew that,' she says.

So, you've got never been clear what {proportion|what quantity} our pro tennis players embrace the Olympics, what quantity they love squeezing in another long plane flight each four years for a lot of three-hour matches.


Tuesday at the most Olympic media center here, they paraded within the U.S. team, contemporary from the flight that took them across the pond. just like the tennis balls they hit for a living, they were a little fuzzy.


"We all would like showers," she said.

When they got settled on the long dais required for twelve players and 2 coaches, the seating chart, under no circumstances a random happening, had Serena Williams within the center and therefore the others unfold left and right. it absolutely was the queen and her court.

She is that the story and presumably are, till the day she retires. she is going to be thirty one in September, simply won her fifth Wimbledon title a number of weeks ago and tube stops away, and currently can look for a milestone within these Games that may provide her a fair loftier spot in the sport's lore.

If she wins the women's singles here, she is going to be the primary to win every tennis Grand Slam event —Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open — a minimum of once, and an Olympic gold in each singles and doubles. She has done all however the Olympic singles.

For a short time, there have been solely 2 achieving a lifetime Golden Slam, and that they are married to every alternative — Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi. Graf, of course, really achieved it all in one year, 1988, wrapping up her unbelievable run at the Seoul Olympics. Agassi got his Olympic gold at Atlanta in 1996. At the Beijing Olympics, Rafael Nadal joined Mr. and Mrs. Agassi within the choose cluster by winning the singles gold. Serena, who has won Olympic gold in doubles twice with sister Venus, lost within the singles semifinals to Elena Demetieva.

There are others near reaching this somewhat odd tennis height. Tennis was contested within the Olympics from 1900 to 1924, and then dropped from the program till 1988 in Seoul. However, early-century players seldom visited Australia.

Helen Wills won each a singles and doubles gold in Paris in 1924, and had twenty four total titles within the U.S. and French Opens and Wimbledon, however never played within the Australian. Lindsay Davenport won her Olympic gold in Atlanta, however never won a French Open. Justine Henin won gold in Athens, however never won at Wimbledon. Venus Williams has Olympic gold in singles and doubles and titles at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, however none in Australia and therefore the French.

Then, there's Roger Federer, who has all the most important titles and Olympic gold, except his gold is in doubles, at Beijing with Stanislas Wawrinka. If Federer and Serena win the gold singles here, they're going to really move a notch on top of the remainder with four majors every, and Olympic singles and doubles gold.

Pretty heady stuff, right? Serena Williams, when presented with the state of affairs, was either jet-lagged or unmoved by history.

"I do not suppose I knew that," she said. "Thanks. No pressure."

With Serena, you never recognize whether or not she is being cagey or is actually oblivious.

She continued with the same old programmed propaganda.

"It's nice simply to be here and to represent our country," she said. "The vital factor is to try and do the most effective I will for the U.S."

She was asked regarding her attendance at the gap ceremony, a matter that continuously looks to be a staple when outstanding U.S. professional athletes come back to the Olympics. With Serena, the solution carried further import as a result of there are stories advocating that she be the U.S. Olympic flag-bearer.

That, of course, would be a terrible plan — the flag bearer ought to be someone outside the prominence of U.S. professional sports who incorporates a compelling story (the Lost Boy of Sudan Lopez Lomong at the Beijing Games) or some Olympic longevity in a very sport that does not create them a zillionaire elsewhere (shooter Kim Rhode?).

But Serena just about took herself out of the running, anyway. She known as her past experiences within the gap ceremonies one thing that evoked "an unbelievably sensible feeling," however said that it all trusted what her taking part in schedule was. The tournament starts the day when Friday's gap ceremony and he or she said she wouldn't march if she had a match following day.

"This year, it's a little difficult," she said.

Other highlights included Andy Roddick's admission that he's tons a lot of excited regarding an Olympics here, on Wimbledon's grass, than he would be for alternative sites on slower surfaces. Roddick has created it to the Wimbledon final 3 times.

John Isner, currently the top-ranked U.S. men's player and creating his Olympic debut, was asked regarding his expectations here. He responded, with humor, that he had gotten on a plane immediately when taking part in in a very World TeamTennis match for the Boston Lobsters on Monday night and said, "The atmosphere at a Lobsters match is second to none."

Women's team coach Mary Joe Fernandez said her team was ok to "win medals in all classes." Men's coach Jay Berger did not speak. Nor did the Bryan brothers, doubles stars Mike and Bob. They were detained at the airport due to a minor accreditation glitch.

At the end, the media were informed that this could be the last availability for the U.S. team till when matches. That meant the athletes may file out of the area, still foggy, however happier.