London – A young black gymnast’s treatment at a medal ceremony sparked international outrage across social media and went viral last week.
Footage of the event in March 2022 shows a judge giving out participation medals to a line of young gymnasts and skipping the only black girl there who looked to be smiling at first and then becoming confused.
This is a series of events for Gymnastic Ireland’s GymStart program, which is aimed at encouraging people to join the sport by “creating a safe, progressive & fun environment for all,” according to their website.
However, upon watching the video star United States gymnast Simone Biles criticised the treatment of the young girl, who sent a private message of support.
“[It] broke my heart to see … There is no room for racism in any sport or at all,” Biles, a seven-time Olympic medallist, said on X.
According to the guardian, in the last 18 months, the GI governing body did not investigate the situation, implement any anti-racism policies or apologise to the family.
“It’s unbelievable that you treat a little girl this way,” her mother told the Guardian.
“It’s a systemic problem because when you [GI] don’t speak out, the message is that you are happy for it to go on.”
On Sunday, GI said they had handled the situation.
However, they were too concerned with protecting their reputation after millions of people viewed the video rather than protecting a young girl in the first place.
The apology is Gymnastic Ireland’s first public statement about the incident.
“We would like to unreservedly apologise to the gymnast and her family for the upset that has been caused by the incident,” Gymnastics Ireland (GI) said in a statement posted on its website on Monday.
“What happened on the day should not have happened and for that, we are deeply sorry,” said the statement.
“We would like to make it absolutely clear that [GI] condemns any form of racism whatsoever,” it added.
It is unfortunate that this process took so long.
However, gymnastics Ireland did not provide information about the recommendations or how they would be implemented.
