The Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou has been withdrawn from the London Olympics after causing an uproar at home for a comment on social media site Twitter, slammed as racist.
"With so many Africans in Greece... the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!!!" she posted on her Twitter account.
Greek's Olympic Committee says she was being pulled from the team because her comments were against the Olympic spirit.
The 23-year-old athlete, who was scheduled to leave for her first Olympics next week, later apologised for what she says was "an unfortunate and tasteless joke".
One man has died in a small outbreak of the West Nile virus in Athens this month and at least five other cases have been reported, Greece's disease control and prevention body said.
