Gymnastics racism apology delay a 'real shame' - Irish PM

The girl's family have asked that recent photos of her face not be shown to protect her from abuse

Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar has said he thought it was "a real shame" it took Gymnastics Ireland so long to deal with an alleged racist incident, but he is "glad that they finally have".

He added there is "no place for any form of racism" in sport after a video of a young gymnast went viral on social media.

The video emerged recently showing a young black girl being ignored by an official who was handing out medals at an event in Dublin last year.

Gymnastics Ireland apologised on Monday "for the upset that has been caused".

Speaking to reporters in County Kildare on Friday, Mr Varadkar said he was "very sorry to see" the viral clip.

"I saw that video, I only saw it myself in the last week or two and it was very sad," Mr Varadkar said.

"I know Minister Byrne, the minister for sport, has reached out to the family and has tried to contact them," he added.

"You know, there's no place for any form of racism or discrimination or sexism in sport."

In a statement, governing body Gymnastics Ireland said it was "deeply sorry", that it knew it needed to do more to ensure "nothing like this will happen again" and that 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".

Speaking to BBC News this week, the mother said it seemed as though Gymnastics Ireland were "pressured to give [her] an apology".

"[The apology is] almost useless," she said. "There was no empathy shown, I feel like it's not true.

"I cried for so long and then millions of people cried with me before I could get this."

A statement issued by the organisation last Friday acknowledged it received a complaint from the parents of the girl alleging racist behaviour in March 2022.

It said there was independent mediation leading to a "resolution agreed by both parties in August 2023".

The taoiseach said there is no place for racism in sport

The incident occurred at a Gymstart event in Dublin in March 2022 when a line of children were awarded medals but the black girl did not receive one.

However a video of the incident has emerged in recent days and been watched millions of times on social media, drawing criticism.

Four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles saw a video of the incident and posted it "broke my heart".