The mother of a young black gymnast who was denied a medal at the ceremony last year described what happened as a wake-up call for the entire sports world to begin some form of anti-racism training, reports RTE.
A video of the event, which took place during the GymStart event in March 2022, was widely shared on social media.
It shows a Gymnastics Ireland official handing out medals to a line of young gymnasts, leaving out the only black girl in the queue.
Speaking to RTÉ News at One, the gymnast’s mother, who does not want to be named, says what happened to her 11-year-old daughter has undermined the child’s confidence.
In a speech this afternoon, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said there was no place for racism in sport.
Mr Varadkar described the clip as “very sad”.
“You know, there’s no place for any form of racism or discrimination or sexism in sport. And I think it is a real shame that it took Gymnastics Ireland so long to deal with it, but I’m glad that they finally have,” he said, reports RTE.
The girl’s mother said she wrote a letter of complaint to Gymnastics Ireland after the incident.
She said the letter was accompanied by a video showing the incident.
The woman stated that the Gymnastics Ireland acknowledged her letter and replied that they were looking into it, trying to identify the official in the video.
“I still have not shown my daughter that letter because I feel that it actually even makes it worse saying to whom it concerns on such a delicate incident,” she said, reports RTE.
The incident attracted international attention.
Among those who reacted was American gymnast Simone Biles, who said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she had sent the girl a video of support after her parents contacted her.
The four-time Olympic champion wrote: “It broke my heart to see, so I sent her a little video,” reports RTE.
Ms Biles added that “there is no room for racism in any sport or at all”, reports RTE.
Gymnastics Ireland issued an apology this week. In a statement, the organisation said: “On behalf of the board and staff of Gymnastics Ireland we would like to unreservedly apologise to the gymnast and her family for the upset that has been caused by the incident. What happened on the day should not have happened and for that we are deeply sorry. We are also sorry that what has happened since that date has caused further upset,” reports RTE.
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