Global Courant
Footage showed the official appearing to disapprove of the girl, the only black gymnast in a medal lineup.
The Irish Gymnastics Federation has apologized for alleged racist treatment of a young black gymnast who was passed over by an official handing out medals to a line of girls last year.
Footage posted on social media last week from a 2022 event in Dublin showed the official appearing to reject the girl, the only black gymnast in the line-up, who looked bewildered.
“We would like to apologize unreservedly to the gymnast and her family for the distress caused by the incident,” Gymnastics Ireland (GI) said in a statement on its website on Monday.
“What happened that day should not have happened and we are deeply sorry for that,” the statement said.
“We want to make it absolutely clear that (GI) condemns any form of racism,” it added.
Welcome to Ireland, where people can get away with racism! This little black girl broke my heart. Don’t skip this post without leaving a million hearts for her. Make her famous… pic.twitter.com/YYMIP1IALZ
— Mohamad Safa (@mhdksafa) September 22, 2023
The video posted on Friday quickly went viral and led to widespread condemnation of the girl’s treatment, including from American star gymnast Simone Biles, who said she had sent the girl a private video message of support.
“(It) broke my heart to see … There is no room for racism in any sport,” Biles, a seven-time Olympic medalist, said Saturday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Biles’ US teammate Jordan Chiles described the incident as “extremely hurtful on so many levels”.
In an earlier statement, GI defended the official who it said made an “honest mistake” but acknowledged it had received a complaint from the girl’s parents in March 2022 about racist behavior.
GI said an independent mediation had led to a “resolution agreed by both parties in August 2023,” that the official had written an apology and that the girl had received her medal after the ceremony.
However, the Irish Independent on Sunday anonymously quoted the girl’s mother as saying that GI had failed to apologize publicly and that she would take the matter to the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation in Switzerland.
