Tweet gets Papachristou expelled from Greek Olympic team
I’ve already discussed this at length in an article of my own…but I’d love to hear what everyone else thinks about the issue.
Short version of the story: Greek Triple Jumper Voula Papachristou recently tweeted, “With all of these Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will have some home-made food!”. She has also repeatedly tweeted links for and endorsed Greece’s ultra-right neo-facist “Golden Dawn” political party. One politician in particular who she has supported via Twitter recently punched a female member of parliament in the face on a live, nationally broadcast talk show.
What are your thoughts on her expulsion?
Alex: You can read my full post on the issue here. Ultimately, even if this was just a joke (I don’t think it was), as a 23-year old (former) Olympian, you should know better. Especially if you’re Greek and are trying to paint a better picture for your country than the one most people have in their heads nowadays. It’s too bad for her Olympic dream to end like that, but the Olympics are about more than just competition, and if you don’t believe in the full meaning of them, you shouldn’t be there. If it were any other sporting event I’d say let her stay, but the Olympics need to stand for something more.
Matt: Well, she’s an idiot. It’s pretty amazing just how controversial social media has become in these Olympics. Now we’re hearing about American athletes potentially facing expulsion for Rule 40 violations, which basically means you can’t tweet support for your sponsors. Talk about a lousy gig for the sponsoring companies. Back to Papachristou…what can you really do? Europe’s full of Nazi remnants and almost every country has some failed party constantly seeking parliament seating. Just so happens this Greek one has a fan in a certain ex-Olympic athlete. I’m sure there are athletes playing who have said/done worse, but she happened to broadcast her opinion worldwide.