Olympics 2012 is once again making a scene on Twitter. On July 26, Toonari Post wrote about Greek athlete Voula Papachristou being sent home after she made a racist comment on the social network and this time the turn has come for the Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella.

The Swiss Federation has decided to expel the 23-year-old Palermo player from the Olympic Games after he posted a controversial tweet right after his team lost against South Korea. The player wrote a message saying that South Koreans “can go burn” and referred to them as a “bunch of mongoloids.”

The Chief of the Swiss Olympic Delegation, Gian Gilli, made a statement where he explained the Swiss decision to send Morganella home: “Michel Morganella gravely insulted and discriminated against the South Korean people and their football team with his highly offensive comments on Twitter. We condemn his comments, which are in fundamental violation of the IOC’s Olympic charter and Swiss Olympic’s own ethics charter. This is why, in consultation with the Swiss Football Association, we have withdrawn Morganella’s accreditation.”

Morganella did not take long to apologize and even closed his Twitter account. He made a statement where he expressed his remorse: “I wish to apologise to the people in South Korea and their team, but also to the Swiss delegation and Swiss football in general. I obviously accept the consequences for my actions.”

However, the apology was not accepted by the Swiss Delegation. Gian Gilli said that “despite the public apology for his behavior, he is strongly condemned by the Swiss Football Association.” The delegation chief explained that he had “no alternative” than to send him home. Morganella is the second athlete to go home prematurely on account of Olympics-related chatter on Twitter. Have other athletes learned from their mistakes or can we expect more cases of bad sportsmanship on the social network?

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About the author

Francisco Fajardo
Journalist graduated from the Navarra University, he has worked on newspapers and radio in Spain. His passions are sports, history and politics. Now he is part of the Toonari Post team.