Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

German Rower Leaves Games Amid Neo-Nazi Flap

A German Olympic rower has left the Olympic Village following claims that her boyfriend is a member of an extremist political party inspired by the Nazis.

Nadja Drygalla, who had already finished competing at the Games as part of the women’s rowing eight team reportedly left today of her own accord after a 90-minute conversation with German officials.

“Miss Drygalla confirmed credibly her commitment to the Olympic Charter,” the head of Germany’s committee Michael Vesper said, according to Reuters. “She is leaving the Olympic Village so as not to be a burden for the team.”

Media reports said her boyfriend was a leading member of a regional National Socialist group, the “Rostock National Socialists,” and had worked in a state election for the far-right National Democratic Party. Germany’s intelligence agency describes the NDP as racist, anti-Semitic and inspired by the Nazis.

The German rowing federation reportedly said in a statement that it welcomed Drygalla’s decision to leave early and would investigate the matter after the Olympics.

Mark Adams, spokesman for the International Olympic Committee said Drygalla had done nothing wrong at the Games, according to Reuters.

“There is no issue for us regarding the rower. I have seen the report. But as far as the Games are concerned, she has not done anything wrong,” Adams said, reported Reuters.

Drygalla’s early departure from London is not the first time that racism has been a topic of conversation during the 2012 Olympics. Before the Games even got underway, Greek triple jumper Voulu Papachristou was expelled from her national team for a racist tweet.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.