Following the resurfacing of a video that appeared to show a judge ignoring the lone Black girl at a medal ceremony last year, the national governing body for gymnastics in Ireland has apologized.
The event from March 2022 was captured on a now-viral video, which provoked outrage on social media and drew a statement from American Olympic champion Simone Biles. The judge is seen in the video placing medals around the necks of the kids one at a time, but he skips past the Black girl and speaks to the other kids instead. The Black girl is seen in the video initially grinning, but she soon develops a perplexed expression once the judge walks by. The judge’s identity has not been made public.
Gymnastics Ireland issued a statement on Monday saying, “We are deeply sorry for what happened on the day. It should not have happened.” We regret that the events that have occurred since that time have upset people even more.
Please be aware that we have always attempted to handle this extremely sensitive and challenging subject in good faith and with the best of intentions. After the incident, we apologized in person since we thought it was the right course of action. Therefore, we decided that mediation was the best course of action.
The video was recorded during a series of activities for Gymnastics Ireland’s GymStart program, which, according to the Gymnastics Ireland website, aims to inspire individuals to take up the sport by “creating a safe, progressive & fun environment for all.” Gymnastic Ireland’s apology is the organization’s first statement regarding the incident. In an interview with The Guardian, the mother of the girl criticized the judge’s actions and the entity’s 18-month quiet.
The mother, whose identity has been concealed by the Guardian to safeguard the privacy of her daughter, added, “It’s unbelievable that you treat a little girl this way.” It’s a widespread issue since silence sends the message that you approve of what is happening.
Eventually, the girl was awarded a medal, and the judge who was involved has denied doing it on purpose, according to The Guardian. An inquiry for comment from NBC News did not receive a response right away from Gymnastics Ireland.
The incident’s footage was published on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Friday, and Biles stated in a post that “after this video began spreading, her parents reached out. I gave her a short video since it made my heart ache to see. Racism has no place in any sport or in society at large.
In a statement, Gymnastics Ireland denounced racism and expressed a desire to speak with Sport Against Racism Ireland to discuss how their “procedures can be improved.”
The message went on to say, “We now know we need to do more.” “We are dedicated to making sure that nothing similar will ever occur again. In order to ensure that this never occurs again, we hired an outside expert to evaluate our rules and procedures earlier this year. As a result, a number of recommendations were made, which we are totally committed to following.
Gymnastics Ireland didn’t go into specifics regarding the suggestions or how they would be put into practice.