Mum of gymnast in Irish racism row says ‘no empathy shown’ in ‘useless’ apology

The mum of a young black gymnast at the centre of a racism row in Ireland has described an apology from the sport’s governing body as ‘almost useless’.

On Monday, Gymnastics Ireland said it was ‘deeply sorry’ for ‘the upset that was caused’ after the girl was skipped during a medal ceremony in Dublin in March 2022.

A video of the incident, showing her smiling eagerly before she is casually passed by the judge, recently went viral on social media.

It caught the attention of American Olympic champion Simone Biles, who posted online: ‘There is no room for racism in any sport or at all!’

In an interview with BBC News, the girl’s mum said the sports body had only apologised 18 months after the event ‘because the world wanted them to’.

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.’

The girl’s parents say racial bias was involved when their daughter was skipped at the medal ceremony (Picture: BBC)

Speaking about the apology, the woman, who declined to be named out of fear her family would receive racist abuse, told the broadcaster: ‘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.’

It has emerged that the judge who skipped the girl during the ceremony at the Gymstart event, held in the Irish capital’s National Indoor Arena, had written an apology email to the family shortly afterwards.

US gymnastics legend Simone Biles was among those who offered support and encouragement to the girl after the video resurfaced (Picture: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

The email, which said the incident was a genuine mistake and the judge ran back to give the child a medal after she realised what she had done, was passed to Gymnastics Ireland so they could send it on to the family.

However, the mother said they never received it.

A ‘one-line’ written apology from the official, who is no longer a member of the organisation after she chose not to renew her membership, arrived around a year after the event.

In a comment to the BBC, Gymnastics Ireland said it took ‘far too long to make an apology to the family’.

It added: ‘The delays arose for a variety of reasons including human error, threats of legal action, intervention by third parties and our own understanding that this was a complaint from the parents against the official.’

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