Simone Biles said that it broke her heart to see an official ignore a young Black girl at a gymnastics event.Photo:Jon Kopaloff/Getty
Jon Kopaloff/Getty
Simone Bilessaid that it broke her heart to see an official ignore a young Black gymnast.
The athlete, 26, responded to a video in which an official passes over a young Black girl while awarding medals during a gymnastics ceremony in Dublin.
The clip, taken at a GymSTART event in March 2022, shows the girl waiting excitedly in the middle of a line of other gymnasts awaiting medals, all of whom are white. The official goes down the line, giving every girl except for her a medal.
After a user on X (formerly known as Twitter) repostedthe viral video— which has garnered over 48 million views — another user replied, “I would love to see [Biles] reach out to this girl if she’s able.”
The four-time Olympic gold medalistresponded, sharing that when the video was first circulating online, the girl’s parents actually reached out to her.
“It broke my heart to see, so I sent her a little video,” Biles wrote. “There is no room for racism in any sport or at all !!!!”
Gymnastics Ireland, the sport’s national governing body and host of the GymSTART event, shared anofficial statementabout the incident in the video and its aftermath on Friday.
In the statement, Gymnastics Ireland said it received a complaint “from the parents of one of our members” that “alleged racist behaviour” after the March 2022 event.
The official “accepted fully” that the events of the video were “not acceptable,” but “stressed that it had not been intentional,” per the statement.
Gymnastics Ireland also said that the official presented the girl with a medal before she left the event. They also requested the opportunity to apologize to the girl and her family in person, and provided a written apology when this request was denied.
In the mother of the girl’s anonymous interview withThe Irish Independent, which was published on Saturday, she denied claims that her complaint had been settled in August.
She also said she received a one-line written apology from the official addressed “to whom it concerns,” which she did not deem a “genuine” apology, according to the outlet. She also said she took the incident to the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation.
“We are often the only Black family at gymnastics events and this has been very hurtful for us,” the mother told the Irish outlet. “Now eight million people have seen the video. From Pakistan to Ethiopia they can see this was wrong, but Gymnastics Ireland still can’t accept it and say sorry.”
According toThe Irish Independent, the mother also contacted Irish police after the video was recirculated on Friday out of concern that her family will be targeted for racist abuse.
Ken McCue, a former employee of Sports Against Racism Ireland who has been helping the girl and her family, told the outlet, “All along we have tried to keep the incident under wraps given the age of the child.”
“The negative impact on the family has been immense as they fear racist kickbacks,” she continued. “Gymnastics Ireland must issue a public apology as members of the audience were shocked at the incident.”
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“Please know that at all times we have been acting in good faith and with the best of intentions in trying to resolve this very difficult and sensitive matter,” the statement continued, before reiterating that an in-person apology was attempted before mediation.
“We know now we need to do more. We are committed to ensuring nothing like this will happen again,” the statement read.
The apology also stated that Gymnastics Ireland had appointed an “independent expert to review our policies and procedures” earlier this year and is “fully committed” to implementing any recommended changes “so that this does not ever happen again.”
“We would also like to engage with the gymnast’s family and Sport Against Racism Ireland (SARI) to listen to any suggestions they have as to how our procedures can be improved in this regard,” the statement continued. “We are happy to see that the gymnast continues to participate in Gymnastics Ireland events and we look forward to welcoming her back to our future events also.”
source: people.com
