UPDATED: Is It Just Me? Or Did Voula Papachristou Get Railroaded?

Last Wednesday a 23 year old Greek athlete was kicked off the Greek Olympic team.

Why?

According to Martin Rogers, an "expert" at Yahoo Sports, Voula Papachristou--a triple jumper--"was banished from the Olympic Games on Wednesday after making racist comments and expressing right-wing sentiments on Twitter."

According to the Greek Olympic Committee Papachristou's Tweet was "contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement."

According to one report:

A storm of angry reactions broke within minutes in the Greek social media with many internet users calling her a “Nazi” and “Chrysi Avgi supporter” and asking the Greek Olympic Committee to expel her.

What did Papachristou Tweet? The same report translated it as follows:

“With so many Africans in Greece… At least the West Nile mosquitoes will eat home made food!!!”

I don't speak Greek. Neither do I know anything about Greek politics or social sensibilities. I have not done any research on the story except what is in this post. But I have to say to ban an athlete from the Olympic Games for what strikes me as a harmless, if impolite, joke seems mighty harsh.

Martin Rogers did cast some light on a couple, possible, real reasons Papachristou was expelled from the Games:

Greek Olympic chiefs consulted with senior members of the Greek parliament, including aides to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, before making their decision. Part of the reason for the expulsion was to punish Papachristou for her actions, but the decision was also made in hopes of avoiding a backlash from anti-racism protestors at the Games.

The financial crisis gripping Greece – where strict austerity measures have affected the lives of millions – has forced the country to rely heavily on corporate sponsorship to fund its Olympic program. Officials feared that contributors may rethink their commitment if Papachristou remained on the team.

Hmmm, did Papachristou's fate boil down to money and political correctness?

The 23 year old woman has apologized for her "unfortunate and tasteless joke." USA Today reports the young athlete is "bitter and upset" by the Olympic Committee's decision:

"I have not slept at all and to be honest I am still trying to come to terms with what has happened," she told Reuters. "I am trying to stay calm otherwise I would lose control."

I can't help it. I don't think the punishment fits the crime. I'm truly sorry for her. I think she was railroaded.

UPDATE 7/31/12: Here we go again. According to My Way News, another athlete has been "stripped of his Olympic accreditation," this time by the Swiss Olympic team. Once again the athlete was a victim of a "racist" tweet.  

According to a spokesman for the Swiss team, Michel Morganella "discriminated against, insulted and violated the dignity of the South Korea football team as well as the South Korean people."

Sounds like pretty heavy stuff. What did Morganella Tweet? According to My Way News he "said in the tweet that South Koreans "can go burn" and referred to them as a "bunch of mongoloids." Morganella is a 23 year old young man. He has apologized.

Come on! This is political correctness gone wild. Yes, "mongoloid" can be a derogatory term referring to Down syndrome. But its primary definition is scientific:

Mongoloid^[1] is a term sometimes used by forensic anthropologists and physical anthropologists to refer to populations that share certain phenotypic traits such as epicanthic fold and shovel-shaped incisors and other physical traits common in East Asia, Southeast Asia, North Asia, Central Asia, the Americas and the Arctic.

For this indiscretion, made after the heat of battle, you're going to ruin a young man's reputation worldwide and take away his life dream? How the hell did skins get so thin in this day and age?


If we used this same standard in politics, most progressives would be denied the vote. Allegations of racism flow daily from the DNC, a dozen at a time. I can't sneeze without being called a racist.

Remember how these two-faced, politically correct progressives treated Sarah Palin and her Down syndrome child, Trig?

A 23 year-old kid's Tweet violates the "dignity" of the "South Korean people?"

My god, if their dignity is that fragile they shouldn't venture out beyond their national borders.

Get a life, people!!!!!!