German rower leaves village over ‘neo-Nazi’ boyfriend

German rower Nadja Drygalla is to leave the Olympic village in London, the country's Olympic committee said on Friday, after press reports that her boyfriend was a member of a far-right group.

German rower Nadja Drygalla is to leave the Olympic village in London, the country's Olympic committee said on Friday, after press reports that her boyfriend was a member of a far-right group.

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“Today the management of the German Olympic committee received information about the private associates of the rower Nadja Drygalla,” the head of the delegation Michael Vesper said in a statement.

Rowing officials spoke to the athlete, who affirmed her commitment to the “Olympic ideals” but at the same time revealed that she “planned to quit the Olympic village so as not to be a burden on the team”, Vesper added.

According to the German media, the rower is the girlfriend of a regional official of the NPD, an openly neo-Nazi political movement in the northern city of Rostock.

Drygalla, 23, was a member of the German eight but the team was eliminated in the repechage stage.

Her relationship with the far-right militant was already known, according to German media, as it was the reason for her resignation from the police service last year. Since the start of the Olympics in London, the Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou and the Swiss footballer Michel Morganella were both sent home by their Olympic committees following racist posts on Twitter.