The mother of a young black gymnast who did not receive a medal during a ceremony last year has described what happened as a wake up call for the entire body of sport to embark in some form of anti-racism training.
A video of the incident at the GymStart event in March 2022 has been shared widely on social media.
It shows a Gymnastics Ireland official handing out medals to a line of young gymnasts but skipping the only black girl in the line.
Speaking to RTÉ's News at One, the gymnast's mother, who does not wish to be named, says what happened to her daughter, who is now 11 years old, has knocked the child's confidence.
Speaking this afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there is no room for racism in sport.
Mr Varadkar described the clip as "very sad".
"You know, there's no place for any form of racism or discrimination or sexism in sport," he said.
"And I think it is a real shame that it took Gymnastics Ireland so long to deal with it, but I'm glad that they finally have."
Asked how she and her family felt on the day, the girl's mother said it was unbelievable.
"Do you know when something happens, and you think and you just rewind and you say did that just happen? It was horrendous," she said.
"It took so much strength trying to explain why she shouldn't feel otherwise, trying to bring back the confidence.
"To be honest, we keep supporting her. It did knock her confidence. She is the only black child competing in the competition and that happens. It is horrendous."
The girl's mother said that on the Monday after the event happened, she wrote a letter of complaint to Gymnastics Ireland. She said that included in the letter was an attachment of the video showing what happened.
The mother said that Gymnastics Ireland did acknowledge her letter and said it was looking in to it, trying to identify the official in question.
She said that it took so much time for them to come back and then tell her that "yes - the official says that it is a mistake or something like that".
The mother said that in the process of this the family got in contact with the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation in Switzerland, who were an intermediary between the family and Gymnastics Ireland.
She said that last March while on a call to the foundation, they mentioned to them that it was over a year and they still had not got an apology from Gymnastics Ireland.
The woman said that the next correspondence that came through was an email that had an attachment of an apology letter from the official, and not Gymnastics Ireland.
She said that that letter started with: "To whom it may concern". She said that she immediately thought "is this a joke?" and that the letter followed on with two lines saying sorry for what happened to your daughter. She said there was no mention of names and the letter was not signed.
"I still have not shown my daughter that letter because I feel that it actually even makes it worse saying to whom it concerns on such a delicate incident," she said.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
She said that they had a lot of international support but in a low key way.
But she said that the past couple of days has been something totally different as the video went viral and "millions of people actually objected to this".
The incident has drawn attention internationally.
Among those who reacted was US gymnast Simone Biles who said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she had sent a video of support to the girl after her parents reached out.
The four-time Olympic champion wrote: "It broke my heart to see, so I sent her a little video."
Ms Biles added that "there is no room for racism in any sport or at all".
Reacting to their story being reported worldwide, the gymnast's mother said: "It's unbelievable. I suppose it's a wake-up call for sports bodies to actually embark on some form of anti-racism training."
She said there needs to be a greater awareness that will help effect some kind of change for people around the world.
"What happens to the next black girl that comes up in a gymnastics competition?" she said.
"We want to see black and other races have so much confidence in whatever they do and not feel left out."
Gymnastics Ireland issued an apology this week. In a statement, the organisation said: "On behalf of the board and staff of Gymnastics Ireland we would like to unreservedly apologise to the gymnast and her family for the upset that has been caused by the incident."
It added: "What happened on the day should not have happened and for that we are deeply sorry. We are also sorry that what has happened since that date has caused further upset."
Gymnastics Ireland also said it regrets a decision not to pass on to the family an apology written by the official shortly after the event.
In a statement, it said: "In hindsight, we acknowledge that it would have been in the interests of the gymnast, the parents and the official to have forwarded the written apology from the official immediately. We regret this decision and have unreservedly apologised for this."
The mother said she thinks that Gymnastics Ireland are being pressured by the international community to actually apologise to her and that is why she only got an apology on Sunday.
"It's taken well over 18 months," she said, and that they had kept what happened very low key since March.
But the mother said that somehow the video popped up online and went viral. She said that she does not know how that happened.
The gymnast's mother said that so much needs to happen.
She said: "That is why I am calling on Gymnastics Ireland to embark on things like anti-racism training that will yield greater awareness that will help effect change for girls that are coming up around the world.
"It's a wake up call for the entire body of sports here.
"Regardless of who you are. Are you a volunteer? Are you staff? Whatever you may be doing, here should be some kind of anti-racism education.
"I know the GAA is doing it so why not the rest? There needs to be more awareness for people to feel included. Inclusion has to come through."
The young girl is still taking part in gymnastics. Her mother said that since the whole thing started they have given her huge support.
"She's sometimes up and sometimes she's a bit low," her mother said.
"Obviously, what happened knocked her confidence. We try to keep encouraging her to tell her, like you know you never give up - especially it's a sport she loves doing - she really, really loves it."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Gymnastics Ireland says apology took far too long
In response, Gymnastics Ireland said it can confirm it has apologised to the young gymnast and her family in writing and in a public statement.
However, it acknowledged that this took far too long and said it was truly sorry for this.
Gymnastics Ireland said that it had offered an in-person apology from the volunteer official immediately after the incident, but it said that this was refused.
The organisation said that the process they initiated to resolve the complaint was unfortunately delayed.
Gymnastics Ireland said that this occurred for a variety of reasons.
In an effort to ensure this will not happen again, the statement said that it has already engaged an independent investigator, to conduct an independent review of their constitution, rules, bye laws with a particular focus on ensuring the ability of Gymnastics Ireland to deal with complaints of a sensitive nature more expediently.
It said it shared this report with the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation and this feedback has also been taken into consideration.
Gymnastics Ireland said that it is currently implementing these recommendations including advertising in August 2023 for the role of 'Safe Sport & Integrity Lead' whose sole responsibility will be to handle complaints of a sensitive nature.
It said that it has resolved to establish a new Diversity and Inclusion Sub-Committee, with the sole purpose of overseeing a robust implementation of the diversity and inclusion policy and adopt a best practice diversity and inclusion policy to complement the commitments made in Gymnastics Ireland Constitution.
Gymnastics Ireland said that it is also strengthening the existing codes of conduct to incorporate the new national template Code of Conduct for Sport issued by Sport Ireland last month.
It said that as the national governing body for gymnastics in Ireland, it has over 36,000 members, many of whom are from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
It said that this is the first racism complaint that it has had to address since the foundation of its organisation in 2000.
The organisation said that it accepts that it fell short of its high standards in the handling of this complaint. It said it is committed to implementing all of the measures outlined above.
