LONDON — A Swiss soccer player was expelled from the Olympics yesterday 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 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.”
He is the second athlete kicked off a London Olympics team for offensive Twitter comments, following Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou.
➤Venus Williams began her bid for a record fourth gold medal in Olympic tennis by beating Sara Errani of Italy, 6-3, 6-1.
Williams was in fine form on the Wimbledon grass, where she has won five of her seven Grand Slam titles. Errani was the runner-up at the French Open and is ranked a career-high No. 9.
Twenty minutes after Williams won on Court 2, younger sister Serena closed out a second-round victory on Court 1, beating Urszula Radwanska of Poland, 6-2, 6-3.
Top-seeded Roger Federer made only a brief appearance on Centre Court, beating Julien Benneteau of France 6-2, 6-2 in less than an hour to reach the third round.
➤John Geddert, the coach of reigning world champion Jordyn Wieber, says it’s an “injustice” the American won’t be included in Thursday’s Olympic all-around finals.
Wieber finished fourth during qualifying Sunday, but will miss a shot at Olympic gold because international rules only allow two competitors per country in the finals and teammates Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas finished ahead of Wieber.
The 17-year-old Wieber posted on her Facebook page that it was “hard to explain these feelings.”
➤Another game, another blowout for the U.S. women’s basketball team.
Candace Parker had 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead the U.S. to a 90-38 rout of Angola.
“The goal is to continue to get better every game and I think that was what we did” against Angola, Parker said. “I think we’re continuing to work on things that no matter what the scoreboard can help us down the line.”
➤The U.S. women’s volleyball team defeated Brazil 3-1 in an early-round rematch of the Beijing Games final won by the Brazilians.
Destinee Hooker had 23 points and Jordan Larson added 18 for the top-ranked Americans, who won 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21 to improve to 2-0 in pool play.
➤New Zealand kayaker Mike Dawson made the semifinals of the kayak slalom despite being given a two-second penalty by his mother Kay — who is a judge at the games.
Dawson touched the fifth gate when going down the 18-gate Olympic course on Sunday, and his mother didn’t hesitate to penalize her son. It was one of two two-second penalties Dawson received, but he still advanced to the semifinals.