Knocks for Gymnastics Ireland over black gymnast discrimination
The parents of a young black gymnast who was skipped over during a medal ceremony have hauled pebbles at Gymnastics Ireland for its ‘useless’ apology.
The sports body sparked a racism row when footage showed the young black girl being refused a medal while her white peers were all given an award at an event in Dublin last year.
The ten-year-old’s furious parents said they felt like their daughter was ‘blamed for being black’.
Footage of the moment in March 2022 soon went viral and was condemned by critics including Olympic champion Simone Biles who described the incident as ‘heartbreaking’.
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Some 18 months on from the incident, Gymnastics Ireland said it was ‘deeply sorry’ for the medal snub. But the girl’s parents have claimed they only apologised ‘because we cried for so long’.
The girl’s mother told the BBC: ‘It is painful to actually state the obvious – my daughter was the only black child in that competition, she stood out well. There was no excuse for what happened. She felt very upset about what happened.
‘It was almost as though they blamed her for being black. It’s something very uncomfortable for a ten-year-old to go through.’
Gymnast Simione Biles condems discrimination in any sports
Her father added: ‘They tried to cover up like it didn’t happen. They probably thought that with time [we’d] forget about it. It was painful. You have to beg for an apology.’
The incident took place at the GymStart event in Dublin last March when all the children, except the young black girl, were given participation medals on the podium.
Gymnastics Ireland apologised on Monday ‘for the upset that has been caused’ and said it would ensure ‘nothing like this will happen again’ as it condemned ‘any form of racism’.
But the mother of the girl described the apology as ‘so useless’ and said she hasn’t even shown it to her daughter ‘because it’s been well over a year’.
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Team USA gymnast Simone Biles, who sent a video of support to the young girl after her parents reached out, wrote on X: ‘There is no room for racism in any sport or at all.’
Ms Biles, who made history by becoming the first black woman to win the all-around title at the 2013 World Championships, has also been a victim of racism in the sport and has been vocal about tackling it.
Although the ugly incident is over a year now some say the unnamed lady who committed the act needs to be identified named and shamed to serve as deterent to all those who are bent on sowing seeds of discord based on colour.