Simone Biles condemns racism in sports amid outrage after Black gymnast is denied a competition medal
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Outrage was renewed this weekend over a video of a young Black gymnast being bypassed as her peers received medals at a competition. As it turns out, the recording stems from a March 2022 GymSTART event held in Dublin, Ireland. It recently began to recirculate on Twitter.
The footage shows several girls lined up as an official goes up to the athletes one by one and places a medal around each of their necks. The Black gymnast continues to smile as she confusedly looks at her other competitors and notices that she is the only one without a medal.
The viral post found its way to Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles. The American gymnast wrote, “Gymternet, [please] help me find this little girl. This is beyond hurtful on so many levels. I need you guys to find her [please]. ASAP,” in a Sept. 22 tweet. Her fellow Team USA teammate Simone Biles was tagged in the post by other users who hoped she, too, could help amplify the video. Biles responded, “When this video was circulating, her parents reached out. It broke my heart to see, so I sent her a little video. There is no room for racism in any sport or at all!”
On Sunday (Sept. 23), the Irish Independent published an interview with the girl’s mother. “We are often the only Black family at gymnastics events, and this has been very hurtful for us. Now, 8 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,” said the concerned parent. The publication said Biles’ video reassured the girl that she worthy of acknowledgment
Gymnastics Ireland issued a statement addressing the incident as backlash and claims of racism ramped up. The organization confirmed that the girl’s parents filed a complaint that was investigated by Sports Disputes Solutions Ireland. A resolution was reached in August 2023 after mediation.
“We identified the official concerned and informed the individual in question of the complaint. The official in question accepted fully that what had happened had not been acceptable but stressed that it had not been intentional. The official concerned said that upon realizing the mistake, they immediately rectified it and ensured that the competitor concerned was presented with her medal before she left the Field of Play (FoP),” read the statement.
The organization said that the official’s initial efforts to express regret for her actions were denied and that a written apology was instead issued to the family. To view the controversial clip, click here.
Trending Stories
