Family in Ireland gymnast racism row say apology 'useless'
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2023-09-28
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News Article :-
The mother of a black girl who was not given a medal at an Irish gymnastics event ceremony says the apology she has received is "useless".
A video emerged recently showing the alleged racist treatment of a young black gymnast being ignored by an official who was handing out medals at an event in Dublin last year.
The mother said watching the incident unfold at the time was "horrendous".
Gymnastics Ireland apologised on Monday "for the upset that has been caused".
In the statement, the governing body said it was "deeply sorry", that it knew it needed to do more to ensure "nothing like this will happen again" and it condemned "any form of racism".
But the mother of the girl said the sports body only publicly apologised after 18 months "because the world wanted them to".
"[The apology is] almost useless," she said. "There was no empathy shown, I feel like it's not true.
"It's been 18 months and it seems like they were pressured to give me an apology.
"I cried for so long and then millions of people cried with me before I could get this."
The incident occurred at a GymStart event in the Irish capital in March 2022, when children were awarded participation medals but a young black girl did not receive one on the podium.
The judge at the event later apologised to the family for her "mistake" and said that she would "never ever ever be racist".
However, the girl's family believe their daughter was the subject of racism. They have asked for the family not to be named, fearing it would prompt racist abuse.
Her mother said watching the incident play out was "unbelievable".
"I didn't believe in this day and time that this could happen," she said.
"It is painful to actually state the obvious - my daughter was the only black child in that competition, she stood out well, there was no excuse for what happened. She felt very upset about what happened.
"It was almost as if though they blamed her for being black. It's something very uncomfortable for a 10-year-old to go through."
She said she emailed the governing body the following day hoping to get an apology for her daughter.
"All I wanted was an empathetic reply from them," the girl's mother said. "I wanted a show of support for [my daughter]. And really what we wanted was a form of apology to show her. To say this is from them, to make her feel supported."
A year after the incident, the family received a short apology letter from the judge at the event, addressed "To whom it concerns".
But the BBC has found out the judge had written another email apology shortly after the incident and sent it to Gymnastics Ireland to pass on to the family.
In it she apologised to the family for upsetting "you and your lovely child", saying she was very nervous, that it was a genuine mistake. "When I realised my mistake," she said,"I ran back to get your lovely child a participation medal and apologise".
The family said that email was never forwarded to
News Article :-
The mother of a black girl who was not given a medal at an Irish gymnastics event ceremony says the apology she has received is "useless".
A video emerged recently showing the alleged racist treatment of a young black gymnast being ignored by an official who was handing out medals at an event in Dublin last year.
The mother said watching the incident unfold at the time was "horrendous".
Gymnastics Ireland apologised on Monday "for the upset that has been caused".
In the statement, the governing body said it was "deeply sorry", that it knew it needed to do more to ensure "nothing like this will happen again" and it condemned "any form of racism".
But the mother of the girl said the sports body only publicly apologised after 18 months "because the world wanted them to".
"[The apology is] almost useless," she said. "There was no empathy shown, I feel like it's not true.
"It's been 18 months and it seems like they were pressured to give me an apology.
"I cried for so long and then millions of people cried with me before I could get this."
The incident occurred at a GymStart event in the Irish capital in March 2022, when children were awarded participation medals but a young black girl did not receive one on the podium.
The judge at the event later apologised to the family for her "mistake" and said that she would "never ever ever be racist".
However, the girl's family believe their daughter was the subject of racism. They have asked for the family not to be named, fearing it would prompt racist abuse.
Her mother said watching the incident play out was "unbelievable".
"I didn't believe in this day and time that this could happen," she said.
"It is painful to actually state the obvious - my daughter was the only black child in that competition, she stood out well, there was no excuse for what happened. She felt very upset about what happened.
"It was almost as if though they blamed her for being black. It's something very uncomfortable for a 10-year-old to go through."
She said she emailed the governing body the following day hoping to get an apology for her daughter.
"All I wanted was an empathetic reply from them," the girl's mother said. "I wanted a show of support for [my daughter]. And really what we wanted was a form of apology to show her. To say this is from them, to make her feel supported."
A year after the incident, the family received a short apology letter from the judge at the event, addressed "To whom it concerns".
But the BBC has found out the judge had written another email apology shortly after the incident and sent it to Gymnastics Ireland to pass on to the family.
In it she apologised to the family for upsetting "you and your lovely child", saying she was very nervous, that it was a genuine mistake. "When I realised my mistake," she said,"I ran back to get your lovely child a participation medal and apologise".
The family said that email was never forwarded to
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