Video of the event in March 2022 shows a judge handing out medals for participation to a line of young gymnasts, but ignoring the only black girl. A photographer, coach and other officials fail to intervene. A mediation settlement reached with the family involved the judge taking anti-racism training.

  • Rikudou_SageA
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    681 year ago

    I don’t understand it, seriously. I can understand that some people are racist. What I don’t understand is how he can’t pretend he’s not racist when cameras are pointed at him. Seriously, it’s not that hard - there are a few clients I hate to get on a call with but they all love me because I’m always polite and helpful, because that’s part of my fucking job.

    • RQG
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      111 year ago

      Must… Contain… Racism… Aaaaah. Oh shit failed again.

      • Rikudou_SageA
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        41 year ago

        I mean, how can you not notice that you’ve given a medal to everyone except the one black kid?

        • @UnculturedSwine@lemmy.world
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          71 year ago

          You’d be surprised. I was raised by people like this and they would emotionally explode if you ever even so much as suggest that they are being racist.

        • @BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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          11 year ago

          Because, in their head, they have a perfectly good, totally not racist at all reason that their behavior is justified.

  • TTH4P
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    671 year ago

    Video is damning. Feel so bad for this kid. :(

      • @Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        71 year ago

        Then they wouldnt wait a year to apologize and only do it after the video went viral. If it happened to me I would apologize SO much instantly

      • @Firipu@startrek.website
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        51 year ago

        Then why, in an initial statement, did the gymnastics federation claim it was not racism but an issue between the judge and the family directly. That doesn’t indicate it was an honest mistake. Also, if it was an honest mistake, she would have gone back a few min later to give her the medal and apologize. The kid only got her medal x days later.

      • @Empricorn@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        It may not be your intent, but this is how racism is accepted and flourishes: by not acknowledging it or hand-waving it away. And no, “it can’t be racism because then it would be blatant and obvious racism” is not an acceptable argument.

        You keep referring to details not in the articles, or reasons that the judge might have had, rather than what’s 100% obvious and in our faces. Watch the video. The judge had chances during and after to correct her “mistake”, but no. The medals weren’t too tangled to be given to the the girl before and they seemed to be untangled for the girl after. The end result was a line of young gymnasts, and the little black girl is the only one standing there not wearing a medal.

        And to be clear, others share the blame for not questioning or intervening at the time. That’s why this is an issue of systemic racism, rather than just one incident…

    • @apis@beehaw.org
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      31 year ago

      The way she starts beaming even more the clearer the situation becomes just kills me.

      By contrast, I like how the child to her immediate right seems to be wondering why she wasn’t given a medal, and looks around as if she’s hoping to summon someone’s attention to address the problem. She looks too young to twig the reason for the omission, but she sure seems to get that this is not how things should go down.

  • AnonStoleMyPants
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    661 year ago

    None of these organisations made any public comment on the girl’s treatment at the time and it would be another year before the family got an apology from Gymnastics Ireland, after the video went viral internationally.

    Holy shit. A fucking year? And obviously only after this thing went viral. They just hoped that nobody paid enough attention and that it would all blow over. And no comment during this happening. Disgraceful behaviour.

  • @Xianshi@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    That’s fucking bullshit. Someone one there should have called them out on this.

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    151 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Una May, the CEO of Sports Ireland, said the judge who ignored the only black gymnast in the competition lineup had got the medals “tangled up”, in comments witnessed by at least two people outside the family.

    In her initial emails the girl’s mother was clear that she was worried about systemic racism and the safety of all young athletes in the sport, and was not only seeking a response to the distress and pain her daughter had endured.

    None of these organisations made any public comment on the girl’s treatment at the time and it would be another year before the family got an apology from Gymnastics Ireland, after the video went viral internationally.

    The Department of Tourism, Culture, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said it had asked for an investigation as soon as it heard about the incident and condemned the slow response from Gymnastics Ireland.

    McCue said the apology from Gymnastics Ireland did not go far enough, and the executive staff needed to attend anti-racism training sessions to understand the harm such incidents did and protect young athletes.

    Ogden also said the official response to the video in Ireland, which has largely focused on the behaviour of the individual handing out medals, failed to capture systemic issues.


    The original article contains 882 words, the summary contains 209 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶
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    101 year ago

    “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

    On camera in front of millions of people is the last place you would want to be racist. I think she was just an airhead. Actually, either way she’s an idiot. I just don’t buy the narrative of her thinking “yeah, im not going to give this kid her medal, that’ll teach her! Haha I am so effective at being racist!”

    • @Tikiporch@lemmy.world
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      151 year ago

      On the other hand, I disagree with everything you’ve said there. I don’t have a quote to make people believe me instead of you though.

      • ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶
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        -41 year ago

        On camera in front of millions of people is the first place you would want to be racist??

        • @Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          161 year ago

          You assume racists think that far. They love to spite black people and if they can humiliate them in front of cameras even better. They can always claim later they “forgot”

        • adr1an
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          1 year ago

          Maybe. Like, to make a point. Also, to me and you probably a racist mind is a bit of an enigma. In anycase, I’d put the focus more on the girl(s) that on the perpetrator. Of course the judge can’t do much on that regard, but Institutions, government, and the likes should. Same applies to us.

  • FarraigePlaisteach
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    01 year ago

    I find myself feeling really bad for both the kid and the person handing out the medal.

    In a room full of one skin colour and one or two outliers, I can imagine myself being socially clumsy enough to not see them at first and then feel too embarrassed or scared to admit why I overlooked them. I bet it’s even happened to me.

    The organisation made an entire mess of this and made the life’s of all concerned more painful.

    • @ialvoi@feddit.de
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      01 year ago

      It seems you kind of understood systemic racism. The person who looks different than the 20 people next to them will experience this on the regular. Which, considering it objectively, is shitty for them to happen to and shitty to be done by the rest.

      • FarraigePlaisteach
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        01 year ago

        Yes, I assume if this happens once then it happens more regularly. It sounds absolutely draining.

        I think people don’t realise that racism doesn’t just mean intentional and pre-meditated behaviour, but also inherent biases. Biases that we should really be educated on to make the lives of our fellow humans better.

        • @ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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          -11 year ago

          Exactly it’s important to acknowledge the different ways of how racism can show.

          It’s quite possible the person didn’t have a malicious or racist intent at that moment. It’s still racist and people need awareness to tackle that subconscious racism. That’s why talking about it and bringing it to the news is so important.

          Not saying you wanted to stop the discussion, btw. Just wanted to add to it.