Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou was withdrawn from the London Olympic Games on Wednesday after causing an uproar at home for tweeting what was seen as a racist slur, the head of the Greek Olympicsteam said.

Papachristou’s tweet prompted calls from political parties to cancel her participation for tweeting the offending message.

“With so many Africans in Greece… the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!!!” she had posted on her Twitter account.

“She showed no respect for a basic Olympic value and unfortunately she is out,” Isidoros Kouvelos told Greek SKAI TV. “She made a mistake and in life we pay for our mistakes.”

The 23-year-old athlete said in a lengthy apology on Wednesday the comment was “an unfortunate and tasteless joke.”

Reuters