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Toby Melville / Reuters
Britain's Tom Daley prepares to take part in the Olympic men's synchronised 10-meter platform final on Tuesday.
LONDON -- A British teenager was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of making "malicious" remarks, after a death threat to U.K. Olympic medal hopeful Tom Daley appeared on Twitter.
The profanity-strewn tweets -- on an account NBC News has chosen not to identify -- also included the claim that the athlete had let down his dead father after Daley came fourth in the men's synchronized 10-meter dive.
Daley rose to fame in the U.K. when he competed at the 2008 Beijing Games at the age of 14.
Shortly after Monday's final, a message appeared on the Twitter account saying, “@TomDaley1994 you let your dad down i hope you know that.”
The account was available to only confirmed followers Tuesday, but retweets of some of the messages showed the abuse continued with one talking about drowning Daley in a swimming pool.
The messages are part of an increasing trend in which celebrities and others are abused by so-called "trolls," who send abusive messages behind the seeming anonymity of social media sites.
Daley retweeted the message about his father and said “After giving it my all...you get idiot's sending me this.”
He then retweeted a number of messages from people calling for the Twitter account involved to be banned.
More London 2012 coverage from NBCNews.com
Daley still has a chance of a medal in the individual diving event.
Daley’s father Rob, 40, died from brain cancer in May 2011.
'Dad was so supportive'
Before the Olympics, Daley spoke to BBC News about how his father "gave me all the inspiration that I've needed.”
“Winning a medal would make all the struggles that I've had worthwhile. It's been my dream since a very young age to compete at an Olympics,” Daley said.
Matt Cardy / Getty Images, file
Tom Daley (second from right) follows the coffin carrying his father as it leaves St. Mary's Church Plympton, England, on June 8, 2011.
“I'm doing it for myself and my dad. It was both our dreams from a very young age. I always wanted to do it and Dad was so supportive of everything. It would make it extra special to do it for him,” he added.
Don't tweet if you want TV, London Olympic fans told
London has become a giant melting pot of cultures and nationalities, but it's not immediately apparent to tourists. The double-dip recession has hit diverse neighborhoods especially hard. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
As news of the offensive tweet began to spread, a message directed at Daley appeared on the Twitter account saying “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.”
“Please i don't want to be hated I'm just sorry you didn't win i was rooting for you pal to do britain all proud just so upset,” it added.
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A diverse community in East London will welcome the world to Britain for the 2012 Olympic Games. Meet residents and hear how they feel about having a huge, world stage in their backyard.
The brief description of the Twitter account holder, who has nearly 50,000 followers, apparently quotes another tweeter as saying he was “gorgeous and the sweetest boy ever."
Dorset Police said in a message on its Twitter account that a “17-year-old man arrested this morning at a guest house in the Weymouth area” in relation to “tweets to @TomDaley1994,” adding that the investigation was ongoing.
A spokeswoman for Dorset Police told NBCNews.com that the teen was held on suspicion of making "malicious communications."
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Leave a Comment:
Well, as long as they didn't tweet anyone's email address...
Gary.zenkel@nbcuni.com
kinda shoots the whole;
in the butt don't it. gotta love the professionalism.....................:)
People say this stuff without hesitation because of the lack of accountability the anonomisity of the internet brings nowadays. I'm not saying we should police the internet (we're not a communist state), but making threat against someone's life isn't something you say in a fit of anger.
I also like how he seemed to take off running when stuff started to get real.
The Internet does bring animosity, however, I think you wanted the word anonymity.
anonymous? you really believe that? .....wanna buy a bridge?................:)
Does this guy even have trunks on in this picture. He looks naked.
But then the suits for all events that they are aloud to wear they could all just as well be naked.
Why are they using their cell phones anyway? Take the phones away from the contestants until the games are over. If it's an EM I am sure they will get the message.
Then the officials would not have to worry about all these stupid tweets, because they have enough to worry about without this new entertainment.
yes, blame the victim?
Divers are not naked but I'm sure they look better than you would in a 3-piece suit. And FYI, it's "allowed", not "aloud".
Did you even read the article?
Congrats on being the troll in this one, Steven. Great job blaming the victim, by the way.
I'm sure you wouldn't feel at all upset/ put off if someone were making the same remarks about your achievements and your personal life as well? But wait, it's not happening to you so it's not important.
One way or another, he would have heard about the idiot making posts.
Way to read the article, as the only thing you really got out of this was questioning if Daly was actually wearing a swimsuit or not. Great focus!
On a positive note: congrats and good luck to Daly. He's done way more than many of the people in the world could ever do or accomplish. There will always be people looking to tear someone down for their accomplishments.
My bad, it's Daley, not "Daly". I work with a Daly, haha.
wow...two vine S&G officers in one post, how many more are on duty today? lets find out.......dese hear olypic kinda games is really gooder then the last ones b...........:)
Oh my, those sound like malicious remarks to me!
C'mon, you've got to hand it to someone with the good graces to correct their own S&G. :)
"Aloud to wear" ??? Really ? Is your spelling really that bad ? Oh boy....
How is that a death threat?
nbc chose not to release the "damning" tweet. although in the story they do reference a tweet about drowning daley in a pool.
that would be a death threat, would it not?
my best friend drowned, we were on a brewery tour at the time...it was quite tragic.....we pulled him from that vat of beer three times but alas........:)
People are so cowardly and heartless behind a screen.... "you let your dad down" seriously?.... why don't you get out there and win a Olympic medal if its so easy.
I hope you've never criticized a movie or a book or a piece of art before.
do they have a girl watching category or perhaps a beer drinking one? if they do count me in............:)
or a wal-martian.......................:)
Yes Some Guy, because when I critique movies or art, I like to throw in stuff about people's parents, you know, to make my comments more legit.
"That movie was terrible, the director's dad would be disappointed." "If Picasso's dad had seen this work he would have disowned him".
I just love how some idiot posts a threat to somebody gets a knock at their door by the cops. They seem so surprised.........
idiot? that my friend is a slur.....listen for the knock...............:)
It's refreshing to know they have the same type of misanthropic idiots over there that we have over here. I was worried we had a monopoly on them.
great job eraser,,bout spit up my coffee....you may have a cookie............:)
Really, so lets see if we can spin this the way it really went, 17 year old says you let your dad down, which, sadly he did and his country too. Doesn't mean he didn't do his best, but still a let down. Then Daley fired back, I'm sure, fueling the fire. This escalated into the battle in which the 17 year old says that he would drown Daley. I don't buy for one second that it was all one sided, Unless the whole tweet history is released, I'm not going to condemn some kid that made a comment on the internet. I doubt highly that there really is a true intent... I mean really, if emotional quips written on the net were enough to convict, this world would be full of inmates.
Let his dad and country down? Really? He made it to the olympics and is competing for his country without pay. What are you doing for your country troll?
And we have our second troll. Woo!
"17 year old says you let your dad down, which, sadly he did and his country too."
Try getting to the Olympics yourself, better yet, try even diving into your local pool at even half of the skill this guy has.
It wasn't one or two quips, it was several 'death threat' type things, of which only the 'drowning' one has been released publicly and was followed by an increasingly abusive stream of tweets.
If he'd done it by mail or phone people would be more contemptuous of him than they are but the internet hasn't yet become fully codified as to its correct behaviour.
However, the 17 year old has since been released with a police warning (i.e. no charge or criminal record but it will be recorded as a 'police contact' for future reference). Hopefully, a couple of hours kicking his heels in a police station has given him some time to reflect, clear his head and determine not to press send without thinking in future.
I agree with MJ. I am not sure what was exactly the death threat that was made, but if the tweet police want to arrest a person by the comments I read in the article (yet worse...some insults and comments made by some posters on the vine) I would say the whole world would be in jail.
@IdahoSteve, I'm a Veteran. And it's not trolling if that's my honest opinion.. which it is. Not saying it's not hard, but even if you give your all and fail, you let people down. No 2 ways about it.
"sadly he did and his country too"....are you f*cken serious?!! Let me guess MJ...you're one of those soccer parents who gets into fights with other parents on the sidelines?
STFU.
Yeah not quite, my kids have been taught that learning a lesson from their failure is just as important as the excitment of winning, failing without learning is to truely fail. Sorry to say it, but no matter what anyone says, when someone loses, people get disapointed/let down, it's a fact of life man. Never said he didn't give it his all, but he still failed. So you STFU.
Couldn't NBC just use their corporate overlord status to shut the guy down on Twitter, much as they did to Guy Adams? Let the head of the #4 network know what you think: Gary.zenkel@nbcuni.com
Haters Gonna Hate........
tweeter's gonna tweet....................
eeeekkkk ....A CONSPIRACY.......where oh where did i put my tinfoil bonnet..........:)
all the serious security problems surrounding these games, yet they have time for this kinda crap?.....amazing....ignorant mind ya....but amazing...........:)
What a total jerk.
I watched this all go down yesterday. It was hilarious, the troll went from "I can say whatever I want" to "why am I trending" to "Wait, I'm on Skynet?" to "I said I'm sorry why can't you stop hating on me WAAAAHHH" and it was delicious and I made extra popcorn if anyone wants some.
If Hitler were alive, he would be proud that the UK has become a full fledged fascist state.
The best way not to get threatened on Twitter is to not have an account. Facebook is bad enough. Twitter is just ridiculous.