By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer
LONDON July 30, 2012 (AP)
A Swiss soccer player was expelled from the Olympics on Monday for his threatening and racist message on Twitter about South Koreans. The comments by Michel Morganella came hours after Switzerland lost to South Korea.
Morganella "discriminated against, insulted and violated the dignity of the South Korea football team as well as the South Korean people," Swiss Olympic team chief Gian Gilli said through a translator at a news conference. He said the player was stripped of his Olympic accreditation.
Morganella is the second athlete kicked off a London Olympics team for offensive Twitter comments, following Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou.
He posted the message after playing in the 2-1 loss against South Korea on Sunday. He said in the tweet that South Koreans "can go burn" and referred to them as a "bunch of mongoloids."
The 23-year-old player later released a contrite statement through Swiss Olympic.
"I am sincerely sorry for the people of South Korea, for the players, but equally for the Swiss delegation and Swiss football in general. It's clear that I'm accepting the consequences."
"After the disappointing result and the reaction from Korea that followed, I made a huge error," Morganella added.
Gilli said the player had been "provoked" by comments sent to his Twitter account after the match.
Still, the Swiss team leader acknowledged that Morganella had to be sent home under the terms of the International Olympic Committee's code of conduct, which requires athletes to show mutual respect.
"In this case, we felt we have no alternative," Gilli said.
Swiss media published images of a tweet from Morganella's account (at)morgastoss. The account has since been deleted. The tweet was written in a garbled form of French, appearing to combine a kind of French slang called verlan and text-messaging style.
Swiss officials with the team in Cardiff, Wales, said players were told Morganella was already on his way home.
Gilli said he had tried to contact the head of the South Korean team in London to offer a personal explanation.
"We would like to apologize, especially to the South Korea National Olympic Committee and the South Korea Football Association for the behavior of the player," he said.
The IOC has encouraged the 10,800 athletes at the London Games to communicate with fans through social media, but it issued guidelines on the standards of behavior it expected.
Morganella played the entire game in both of Switzerland's matches. He received a yellow card against South Korea in Coventry. The Swiss drew 1-1 with Gabon in Newcastle on Thursday. Switzerland plays its final group match against Mexico on Wednesday, needing to win by two goals to have a chance of advancing.
"We have to focus on the game," coach Pierluigi Tami said. "The other stuff we don't want to think about. Maybe we shouldn't read any newspapers for the next two days."
Morganella debuted with the senior national team in May and currently plays for the Italian club Palermo.
"We hope that he will draw the necessary lessons for his still young football career," Gilli said.
Last week, Greece Olympic officials tossed Papachristou off the team after she posted a comment mocking African immigrants and supporting a far-right political party.
caught an hour last night with my mom. we are on ok terms right now.
just a few hours ago the realtor brought the for sale sign out, and shit's official. this weekend is an open house, tomorrow a bunch of brokers are coming by.
not sure how I feel about all of this, but it's out of my hands you know...
__________________
follow me on twitter @SweetBabyGrapes
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mista Cobalina
Nat Sherman's are better than Dunhill's in every conceivable way
Quoted for Scooter. Give Nat's a try, just two packs, and I swear the next Dunhill you light up you will reflexively spit onto the ground. I literally did exactly that, as I walked back into my local head shop and exchanged the disgusting things for another pack of my beloved Nat Naturals.
Teenager arrested over malicious tweets sent to Tom Daley
17-year-old boy held in Weymouth, Dorset, after Team GB diver retweeted message telling him he had let down his dead father
James Meikle
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 31 July 2012 07.07 EDT
Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy as part of an investigation into malicious Twitter messages sent to the Team GB diver Tom Daley after he and his team-mate, Pete Waterfield, missed out on a medal at the Olympics.
The teenager was held at a guesthouse in Weymouth, Dorset, hours after Daley, 18, retweeted messages he had been sent soon after finishing fourth in the 10m men's synchronised platform diving event.
A spokeswoman for Dorset police said: "A 17-year-old man was arrested by Dorset police officers in the early hours this morning at a guesthouse in the Weymouth area on suspicion of malicious communications. He is currently helping police with their inquiries."
Daley retweeted a message that said: "You let your dad down i hope you know that."
Daley's father, Rob, died from brain cancer last year. Speaking before the Olympics, Daley revealed that his father "gave me all the inspiration that I've needed". The teenager, from Plymouth in Devon, told the BBC: "Winning a medal would make all the struggles that I've had worthwhile. It's been my dream since a very young age to compete at an Olympics.
"I'm doing it for myself and my dad. It was both our dreams from a very young age. I always wanted to do it and Dad was so supportive of everything. It would make it extra special to do it for him."
Abusive remarks on Twitter by a user had triggered protests from others before Daley responded: "After giving it my all... you get idiots sending me this..." and retweeted the message.
Some comments appear to have since been removed from the site but later apparent attempts by the user to apologise remained.
"@TomDaley1994 I'm sorry mate i just wanted you to win cause its the olympics I'm just annoyed we didn't win I'm sorry tom accept my apology."
He added: "please i don't want to be hated I'm just sorry you didn't win i was rooting for you pal to do britain all proud just so upset."
Later another tweet to Daley read: "i'm going to find you and i'm going to drown you in the pool you cocky twat your a nobody people like you make me sick".
Tweets to other users who criticised his earlier message were spiked with profanity. One read: "i dont give a shit bruv i'm gonna drown him and i'm gonna shoot you he failed why you suporting him you cunt" and another, to a different Twitter user, read: "do you want me to come to your fucking house now with a rope and strangle you with it".
Duncan Goodhew, a gold and bronze medallist in swimming at the Moscow Olympics in 1980, said: "It is appalling that people behave that way. Becky Adlington, in fact, suffered probably far worse abuse, as well, if you remember the kerfuffle some years ago," he told ITV's Daybreak.
"I suppose that social media in one sense is fantastic, but turned the wrong way round it is very, very personal and it destroys people's lives. So I think people should be much more careful about what they say."
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