Teenager arrested over Daley Twitter abuse
Police have arrested a 17-year-old after he allegedly sent abusive tweets to Team GB diver Tom Daley telling him he had let down his late father.
The teenager was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications at a guest house in Weymouth following a series of abusive messages.
Daley and his partner Pete Waterfield missed out on a medal on Monday when they finished fourth in the men’s synchronised 10m platform diving event at the Olympics.
Shortly afterwards, Daley retweeted a message from user Rileyy69 which said: “You let your dad down i hope you know that.”
Daley responded to the tweet by posting: “After giving it my all…you get idiot’s sending me this…”
User Rileyy69 later apologised for the comment before his Twitter account was suspended.
He tweeted: “@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.”
Daley’s father Rob died in May last year from brain cancer.
Other athletes and fans came forward to offer their support to Daley and call for the troll to be suspended from the social networking site.
Daley’s partner Pete Waterfield tweeted: “For all the haters out there, come do what we do then have ur say.”
It’s not the first incident during the 2012 Games that’s sparked a wave of outrage on Twitter.
Triple jumper Voula Papachristou was expelled from Greece’s Olympic team for her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right political party.
Tweet about sponsors and risk expulsion
A number of athletes have come out in force to protest against IOC rules which ban athletes from naming personal sponsors on Twitter. The IOC directive, Rule 40, stipulates that athletes cannot appear for personal sponsors for the duration of the Games.
Some have been forced to take down photos of their shoes from Facebook, while others have been threatened with expulsion from the Games and financial penalties if they tweet about their sponsor deals.
Athletes have launched #WeDemandChange #Rule40 on Twitter to demonstrate against the restrictions.
The US Track & Field Association have released a statement calling for a change to the ruling.
“While we consider representing our country at the Olympics the highest honour, every day we face the reality that achieving the dream requires financial support.
“This support requires that we be able to effectively market ourselves and acquire sponsorship, a process that is part of an ongoing journey, 365 days, every single year,” the association said.
The IOC defended Rule 40, saying the governing body is “trying to protect the money that comes into the Olympics movement”.
NBC accused of ‘Money-grabbing’ delay
In the US, the NBC network has been hit with a barrage of criticism on Twitter for failing to broadcast the opening ceremony live.
The Independent’s Guy Adams had his account suspended after he posted the email address of a senior NBC boss, urging people to complain about the broadcast delay.
Adams had also lashed out at the network for choosing to delay the ceremony so it would pull in more advertising revenue in prime time.
He posted: “America’s left coast forced to watch Olympic ceremony on SIX HOUR time delay. Disgusting money-grabbing by @NBColympics”
“I have 1000 channels on my TV. Not one will be showing the Olympics opening ceremony live. Because NBC are utter, utter bastards.”