Britain's double Olympic champion swimmer Rebecca Adlington will abandon Twitter during the London Games because she fears abusive comments about her appearance will affect her performance in the pool.
The reigning 400m and 800m Olympic freestyle champion said she had a habit of reading everything that was written about her online and would get angry at negative comments about her looks, The Guardian reported.
"Most things that I read about myself are not swimming related," Adlington said. "They are to do with how I look, which has nothing to do with my performance in the pool. I've never read something that has really criticized me in the pool over the past year. It's just nasty comments about things I can't control.
"I can't help the way I look or who I am."
Adlington said her favorite thing about Twitter was the "block" button, adding that she would be abandoning her nearly 50,000 followers during the Games.
"The messages of support are amazing but you do have the chance of someone saying something that is going to be annoying," the 23-year-old said.
"You don't want that added stress. You don't want to be thinking about that. I think I will just tweet once it is over."
