The video moved the entire Internet, beyond Irish borders. Images which date from March 2022 and which show young gymnasts at the end of a competition in Dublin (Ireland), receiving a medal from an official of the organization… All, except a young black girl who continues to smile under the applause of the public, in the hope of also having her reward. The sequence, published more than a year ago on the Web, had gone almost unnoticed. Except that in recent days, an Internet user reposted it. And there, in a few hours, thousands of people were outraged. The video, shared widely on social networks, is even relayed by high-level athletes. Among them, American Simone Biles, considered one of the best athletes in the world, said she was “heartbroken” when she saw these images. On her X account, she specifies having sent a video of support to the young gymnast deprived of a medal.
Faced with the controversy, on September 22, the Irish Gymnastics Federation published a press release to explain itself. The organization returned to the incident and clarified that the young gymnast’s family had filed a complaint just after the competition. Mediation was then organized between the two parties. The official who distributed the medals in the video even apologized for this “oversight”. The Irish Federation also claims that the young gymnast did receive a medal that day, but just afterward, when she left the field.
In the newspaper The Guardian, the mother of the “forgotten” young girl, however, points out the late response from the Federation and questions its lack of position in the fight against racism. “It’s worthless to me because they’re not talking about the issue of racism and safety,” she says. I would like to hear them say that the next black child who does gymnastics will be safe. It is not so “. The Irish sports organization subsequently published a second press release to reiterate its apologies to the family.
2023-09-26 18:24:41
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