German Hockey Player Tweets Against Greek Athletes ‘Cowardly Fake’

By on July 27, 2012 in news, sports

The German National Olympic Committee rushed to condemn the “cowardly fake” Tweet post spread through the Internet on Friday concerning an alleged racist comment made by German hockey athlete Natascha Keller aiming at the Greek athletes of the London Olympics.

The controversial tweet read: “The Olympic village is filled with barefoot Greek athletes. As soon as we see them we are afraid that they will ask us for loans.” Soon it sparked anger among Greek bloggers who protested the unfair comment made just days away from the Papachristou expulsion case over similar reasons.

According to Reuters, the German Olympic mission chief Michael Vesper said in a statement that the whole act was cowardly and needed no further notice. The German athlete appeared to have shut down her public Facebook and Twitter accounts after reports of the tweet surfaced. However, the offending message could not be found on her Twitter account before it was shut.

Vesper also noted that the athlete was chosen to be the flag-bearer of the German mission in the London Olympics because of her so far dedicated life to the ideals of sports, her humble personality and successful performances over the years.

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  • AngeTKenos

    A few remarks if I may. First, how do we know it was fake as Deutchland suggest. They are far more likely embarrassed at being so easily caught out with yet another example of racism from their country.
    Then the issue of barefeet. If we are talking outside then it could be that some athletes wanted the feel of real English soil under their feet although why as that soil has no where near the value of Hellenic soil.
    When I visited the Parthenon, the ancient and more modern Olympic stadiums, my father’s village, Delphi, Olympia and various other historical sites I deliberately did so barefoot. I wanted to walk on the same soil and over the same rocks as my forebears did and so I deliberately chose to do so, even though at the Acropolis one so called guard screamed at me for doing so.
    But whatever is the truth about the Hellenic athletes we do NOT want any more remarks from the Deutch unless it is to offer stolen artefacts back and WW2 reparations.

  • Spiro

    That is simply infuriating, great that the Germans decided it didn’t need anymore notice. From the looks of it, it looks like the German hockey team is using her as a damn goal post. 

  • noIMspartacus

     ”…great that the Germans decided it didn’t need anymore notice.” Ja! how convenient for them, no? As is the “report” that…  “According to Reuters, the German Olympic mission chief Michael Vesper
    said in a statement that the whole act was cowardly and needed no
    further notice. The German athlete “APPEARED” to have shut down her public
    Facebook and Twitter accounts “AFTER” reports of the tweet surfaced.
    However, the offending message could not be found on her Twitter account
    before it was shut.” Really? When, who and how hard were they looking?

  • Alex

    “as that soil has no where near the value of Hellenic soil.” – Attention, nationalist loony in the house!! Seriously, the tweet was most probably sent by a nationalist and jealous Greek just to mess with the Germans. Listen man, there is ten times more racism in Greece than in Germany. I am Greek American and I have been to both Greece obviously and Germany. I still remember the first time my parents took me to Greece when I was nine and heard stuff like: “sooo, there be many blacks in California, they be dirty, no? do they steal and kill people always, yeaaah? – And the Jews, they take all the moooney, yaaa? – Hitler little crazy but no bad man really.” Sickening racist garbage. And now look, proud child of Hellas, if you look closely, you will see Hrisi Avgi…

  • noIMspartacus

     what a pathetic load of hypocritical malakies – don’t give us that goodt two shoes bullshit about racism – especially from a gringo…

  • Markos

    Woah, woah woah no. absolutely not. Listen I too am Greek American, but in our country every person runs straight to the race card to throw it at other people and other populations. The difference between Greece and Germany is Greece knows damn well where they came from, and they know better than anyone their history, the bright spots as well as the dark. Greece is, relatively speaking, a homogenous culture [largely one language, one religion one identity that officially exists only in that country], the USA and even Germany are very diverse and intermixed societies. Greeks are proud, but when every person around you is the exact same it shouldn’t be surprising how a mentality like that can develop. Plus look at the older generations, they don’t forget the hell wreaked upon Greece as easily as the Germans seem to pretend to do, they’re conservative and they keep their traditions. Using Xrysi Augi as an example [which everyone compares to the Nazis [who were in fact German]] is just ridiculous, 7% of the national vote does not characterize an entire society. We’re American, and what “works” for us in our country doesn’t work for every other country in the world no matter how many tanks, missiles or sanctions we throw at them. Yes, in American terms Greeks are rather xenophobic, along with every other european country. Just people need to look at why, instead of just shooting their mouths off. 

  • myrtille

    I was thinking… Should we consider that the comment for the “barefoot
    Greek athletes who will ask for loans” is the well-known to Germans Freud’s
    defense mechanism of “Projection”, that is “a common attribute of
    paranoia, where people project dislike of themselves onto others such that they
    believe that most other people dislike them”? Or, in other words, “When a
    person has uncomfortable thoughts or feelings, they may project these onto
    other people, assigning the thoughts or feelings that they need to repress to a convenient alternative target“?

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  • AngeTKenos

    Alex, I disagree with the negativity. But then you are an Yank