U.K. women's rugby star out of Olympics amid racism controversy

A key player in Britain's Olympic rugby sevens team withdrew from competition on Tuesday amid allegations of racism 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 blackened face and her tongue sticking out.

A message underneath read: "Thought I'd have a better chance with the blacks." It was not immediately clear what she meant by this. At least one social media commenter suggested that Wilson-Hardy may have been referencing the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team.

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A Team GB statement said she had "been withdrawn on medical grounds," replaced by Abi Burton. Wilson-Hardy also competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the BBC reported .

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 controversy 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.

Wilson-Hardy's withdrawal comes just days after another high-profile British athlete dropped out of the Games.  Last week, Olympic equestrian gold medalist Charlotte Dujardin withdrew from the Paris Olympics after a years-old video emerged allegedly showing her mistreating a horse.

"I am sincerely sorry for my actions and devastated that I have let everyone down," Dujardin wrote on social media .