US' Missy Franklin Wins 100 Backstroke; Japan Wins Gymnastics Silver After Appeal; 2nd Athlete Booted From Games Over Racist Tweet

US swimmer Missy Franklin

(AP) – American teenager Missy Franklin won the women's 100-meter backstroke at the London Olympics today. Franklin won the two-lap race in 58.33 seconds for her first Olympic gold and second medal after taking bronze in the 4x100 freestyle relay. Emily Seebohm of Australia touched in 58.68 to take the silver medal and Aya Terakawa of Japan finished in 58.83 to take bronze.

Franklin swam little more than 10 minutes after taking the eighth and final qualifying spot in the 200 freestyle semifinals.


(Newser)- China easily took the gold medal in the men's gymnastics final today, but who got silver was a matter of some controversy. When the event was first concluded, Britain stood at an astonishing second place, followed by the Ukraine. But Japan, sitting in fourth, launched an appeal, complaining that their pommel horse score was too low—and the judges ultimately agreed, bumping them all the way up to silver, the BBC reports.

Even a bronze medal represented a huge upset for Britain—before the event "nobody would talk in more than hushed tones of a bronze medal, let alone beating Japan," writes Ollie Williams of the BBC. But boos rained down on the Japanese as they accepted their medals anyway, the Guardian reports. The highly-touted US squad, incidentally, finished a disappointing fifth, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

(Clickege)- Triple jumper Voula Papachristou got kicked off her team a little while back for tweeting a racist remark about African immigrants before even making it to the Games. But Switzerland's Michel Morganella did manage to play at the Olympics a little before getting kicked out for almost the same reason.

During yesterday's soccer game against South Korea, the defender apparently had a tough time dealing with his team's 2-1 loss to the country, and took to Twitter to share the following:

"I want to beat up all South Koreans! Bunch of mentally handicapped retards!" 

The AP reports that he also tweeted that South Koreans "can go burn" and referred to them as a "bunch of mongoloids." 

The 23-year-old is on his way home now, and had this to say about his actions: 

"After the disappointing result and the reaction from Korea that followed, I made a huge error. I wish to apologize to the people in South Korea and their team, but also to the Swiss delegation and Swiss football in general. I obviously accept the consequences for my actions." 

His Twitter account has since been deleted.