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A video of an official skipping a young black girl during a gymnastics medal ceremony is doing the rounds on the internet. In the video, it can be seen that there are young girls standing in a queue to receive their medals. However, the official who was giving medals to the girls skipped the young black girl.
This incident took place in March 2022 in Dublin, Ireland. Several internet users called this incident racist and said that it was purely intentional to skip the young black girl.
One social media user, @attorneysymoneredwine, reacted to this viral video and said, "Even the little girls around her stopped and looked."
After the video caught the attention of social media users, Gymnastics Ireland probed the incident and released an apology letter. In the letter, they said that this incident was unintentional and was not at all racial discrimination.
However, social media users believed that the official who did not give a medal to the black young girl was racist.
Internet users call out Gymnastics Ireland for 'racist behavior'
Social media users were not convinced by the apology of Gymanistic Ireland, and they said that this incident does not appear to be an honest error to them. Several others reacted by saying that the official is just getting away with racism.
Gymnastics Ireland said in their statement that they received a complaint from the girl’s parents about the official's alleged racist behavior. They said in the statement that after receiving the complaint, they immediately engaged with the girls' parents and also began an investigation into this case.
What did Gymnastics Ireland say in their apology?
The authority in the statement said that they are well aware of the video that has been posted on social media relating to the incident that took place 18 months ago at the GymSTART event in March 2022.
"The complaint alleged racist behaviour by one of our officials at the event. On receipt of the email, as per our policy and standard practice in relation to complaints, we investigated the matter. Gymnastics Ireland immediately contacted the family to express concern and reassure them that the matter was being investigated."
They added:
"The official also expressed deep regret for what they described as an honest error and requested the opportunity to apologise in person to the competitor and her family. This request was initially declined."
Moreover, the US teammate of the young girl at the competition, Jordan Chiles, while speaking with The Irish Times, said that this incident was very hurtful.
Well, this incident has come to light at a time when the world of gymnastics is celebrating Simone Biles, an African-American gymnast who has won several Olympic medals.
