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 This is why, in consultation with the Swiss Football Association, we have withdrawn Morganella’s accreditation.”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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A triple jump Olympic athlete from Greece, Voula Papachristou, was withdrawn from the London Olympics on July 25 after she made an racist comment on her personal Twitter account that talked about African immigrants in Greece. She posted the tweet on July 22 and it said: “With so many Africans in Greece… the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!”

With this post, Papachristou was making a reference to a crisis in Greece caused by a virus from the Nile that has caused one death and at least five infections.

Papachristou’s tweet has caused so much controversy around, that the Greek Federation has not doubted about the reprisal made. The respond was not letting her defend the Greek colors during the Olympic Games.

Isidoros Kouvelos, who is in charge of the Greek delegation, showed his anger on Greek SKAI TV: “She showed no respect for a basic Olympic value and unfortunately she is out. She made a mistake and in life we pay for our mistakes.”

A decision that her coach, George Pomaski, has not understood, and assesses it as harsh, especially for someone that has apologized. “It’s too much, the penalty should not have been so strict,” he told Reuters.

The triple jump athlete showed her repentance on her personal Facebook page, but this has not helped her to achieve forgiveness and compete in London: “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,” she wrote.

The athlete’s comment has caused a lot of controversy on social media, specially in Twitter. Two groups have been made: those that support her and those that agree she should have been expelled from the Olympics.

With the social media being so present in everyone’s life, some coaches, such as Spain soccer national team coach, are advising their athletes to not use social media during competitions in order to avoid these type of problems.

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