UPDATE: Looking for Voula Papachristou photos? CLICK HERE!
Racism has many shades of gray; it can creep up even when it’s part of a seemingly innocent joke.
Greek triple-jumper banned from the London Olympics.
Greek triple-jumper, Voula Papachristou, has been banished from the London Olympics set to begin this Friday, after cracking the following joke over Twitter:
“With so many Africans (immigrants) in Greece, the West Nile (infected) mosquitoes at least eat home-made food.”
The tweet was considered racist, per the new International Olympic Committee regulations about social media:
“RACISM – We cannot allow for anything that can be deemed to be racist and offensive towards any group of people.”
The Greek Olympic Committee banned Voula Papachristou from participating in the Olympics. She was considered one of the potential finalists for the women’s triple-jump.
Rough landing for Greek triple-jumper, Voula Papachristou.
Voula Papachristou is a supporter of the Greek nationalist party, “Golden Dawn“, according to various sources and her own posting of images related to the far right political party that took home 350,000 votes during the recent elections in Greece.
The Greek triple-jumper has since apologized for her thoughtless joke, stating that she is sorry, both in Greek and English:
I would like to express my heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate and tasteless joke I published on my personal Twitter account. I am very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wanted to offend anyone, or to encroach human rights. My dream is connected to the Olympic Games and I could not possibly participate if I did not respect their values. Therefore, I could never believe in discrimination between human beings and races. I would like to apologize to all my friends and fellow athletes, who I may have insulted or shamed, the National Team, as well as the people and companies who support my athletic career. Finally, I would like to apologize to my coach and my family.
While the banishment of Voula Papachristou from the upcoming London Olympics was over a single tweet, it comes to show that social media can make or break a professional athlete and how they are perceived by their peers and the world.
My god, she’s hot!!!
Bob – Yes she is. “Ellinides” (Greek women) are uber-hot! 😀
This is bullcrap. First, that is not, by any reasonable interpretation, a racist remark, with or without the knowledge that she’s a “nationalist” – indeed, it seems a rather witty comment. Second, what sort of wrong-headed policy would disqualify an athlete for any conduct not actually related to their athletic performance? Nobody of sound mind expects athletes to be role models or intellectuals or world leaders or anything else, in any sense but the athletic one, so their values and opinions should be respected as their own to hold, or, at the very least, ignored as completely irrelevant and inconsequential.
bananaman – The guidelines of the International Olympic Committee regarding social media are very strict and specific (see link provided above). The tweet was indeed racist: it attributed a race (Africans) of a particular function (immigrants in Greece) to something that generates illness (West Nile virus). The joke was racist, and it was made by an athlete that would compete with thousands of others in a global event that is about sportsmanship and respect. Good move by the Greek Olympic Committee to ban her, she seems to have not exactly renounced the comment despite the apology.
Voula Papachristou is a supporter of the Greek nationalist party, “Golden Dawn“
’nuff said.
IOC doing something right.
Democracy run with racistic rules in the name of racism! (I am not a nationalist)
PCNW – Isn’t that an irony? 😀
Kate – It’s ok to have any type of political views, but when one is a public figure, such as an athlete, all the eyes are on them.
We live in a new world. Where BS comments wont be tolerated. It’s not the 1950’s any more and thank god.
An overreaction would of bean if she said something like Will Smith is a nice Black Man instead of say Nice Man even if nothing was really wrong or aggressive with the prior. Her comment was nothing like that it was offensive just because it didn’t effect you didn’t mean there was no harm it singled out and demeaned a people.
If I need offensive humour on a public forum I’ll listen to the late George Carlin not an Olympic Athlete who is a PUBLIC FIGURE.
Marc – Agreed on the new world concept. Anything you say live on twitter, as a public figure, has to be carefully phrased, because we live in a PC world.
The tweet was made in Greek and while the initial reaction by the Greek Olympic Committee was three days later, there was no due process for her banishment, according to various sources. In other words, regardless of what the offense was, the punishment was void of any call for testimony. It is a expected that while the decision was final, lawsuits will follow.
There is nothing derogatory or belittling about her joke. Just because race is part of a statement (or joke) does not mean it is racist.
It seems to be fashionable to be stupid, self-hating and anti-white these days. If you don’t agree with cultural-marxism (political correctness), you’re automatic attacked by the marxists and their collaborators in the media and elsewhere. Long live Greek people, long live European people. It’s time for us to take back our ancestors’ continent from these vicious aliens who have done nothing but bad to our societies. MAGNA EVROPA EST PATRIA NOSTRA!
You know why she was banned. It is because it is a threat to groups who only have a tenuous hold on power. Statements that are obviously true no one is offended by, and the same by statements that are obviously false (they ignore you). Statements in between, like that Africans (interpreted I guess to mean black people here) she implies to be blood sucking mosquitos, have an seed of truth, because they have built no great civilizations and are on welfare in many countries. This offends people I suppose because the implication that there could be social division and violence — the instability in multiculturalism that the political leaders are trying to prevent. Science says that black people have an IQ of about 15 to 18 points less than white people. This doesn’t justify racism, which is a belief in the inherent superiority of one group, but it is also an inconvenient truth to those who would hold together a fragile social amalgamate. You can see why leaders are eager to paper over these inconvenient truths or partial truth to avoid conflict.
Anon – Nice trolling. I bet you’re the smartest kid in your class.