Last week English cricketer Kevin Pietersen was falling foul of the popular social network after tweeting an expletive-laden tirade following his dumping from the national Twenty20 side.

Then Rice tweeted earlier this week, after watching the Wallabies defeat South Africa on Saturday night: "Suck on that faggots. Probs the best game I've ever seen!! Well done boys."

The comment provoked a national uproar and was condemned by gay former NRL star Ian Roberts, who branded Rice a "complete idiot". Even Matthew Mitcham, the openly-gay gold-medal winning diver and friend of Rice, said her comment was offensive and thoughtless.

The tweet was quickly removed and the swimmer has since tearfully apologised for causing offence.

A tweet like this was clearly in the heat of the moment, but the swimmer has already learned just how costly a few strokes of a keyboard can be.

Her apology failed to satisfy Jaguar Australia's marketing manager Mark Eedle, who this week terminated her sponsorship agreement.

Eedle confirmed the company would also take back the free Jag Rice had been driving since February, worth in excess of $100,000. Did Jaguar make the right decision?

Rice is no stranger to "naughty" behaviour, having previously been caught up in a Facebook scandal after suggestive photos of her circulated through the social network.

For what it's worth, I believe her remarks were not malicious towards gay people. But it poses the greater question: Why do some athletes feel the need to broadcast stupid thoughts that should be kept private?

It should be obvious to anyone that a word like "faggots" could cause offence. I doubt Rice would utter it during a TV interview, but she was happy to broadcast it on Twitter without a second thought.

However, I do believe that those who have branded her "homophobic" over the post are taking things a bit far. We are all new to social networking and we all make mistakes.

And if Mitcham, who is open about his sexuality, can forgive her surely the rest of us can.

The most important thing is that we as a collective can learn from her experience, to avoid any more damage - to public sensibilities or athletic careers.