A key player in Britain’s Olympic rugby sevens team withdrew from competition on Tuesday amid a racism row, after an image emerged of her with a blacked-out face.
The British Olympic Association said it had launched an investigation into Amy Wilson-Hardy after the picture came to light on social media late Monday.
The image, sent in a WhatsApp message widely published in British media, showed the 32-year-old with a blacked-out face and her tongue sticking out.
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A message underneath read: “Thought I’d have a better chance with the blacks.” It was not immediately clear what she meant by this.
Wilson-Hardy was absent from Britain’s match against China at the Stade de France, which resulted in a memorable 19-15 win for the Chinese.
A Team GB statement said she had “been withdrawn on medical grounds”, replaced by Abi Burton.
Captain Emma Uren said the players were broadly unaware about the allegations and were doing their best to focus on the sport.
“We didn’t get told much about it because we know we need to focus on the game and the tournament,” she said, adding that a phone ban was in place at the squad.
“It’s quite a surprise when something like that springs up in the middle of an Olympic campaign,” she admitted.
Coach Ciaran Beattie declined to be drawn on the row.
“We’re just playing rugby right now. We’re concentrating on that,” he said.
The row adds to the woes of the GB rugby sevens set-up after the men failed at the last hurdle to qualify for the Olympics, losing to South Africa.
The women came in with genuine medal hopes, but crashed out in the quarter-finals, losing 17-7 to the United States.
The loss to China will come as an added blow, meaning they have to play off for seventh place against Ireland.
That match was notable for an incomprehensible blunder by Isla Norman-Bell, who deliberately threw the ball into touch, hoping for the referee to blow time.
Instead, it gifted a penalty to the Chinese team and Hu Yu struck deep into injury time to break the British hearts.