Simone Biles: Olympic champion responds to viral video of black girl not given medal

[HomerJS]

Black gymnast snubbed during medal ceremony.

Simone Biles: Olympic champion responds to viral video of black girl not given medal

US gymnastics legend Simone Biles says "there is no room for racism in sport" after footage of a black Irish girl not receiving a medal went viral.

www.bbc.com

Message from Simone Biles

Four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles says "there is no room for racism in any sport" after a video went viral on social media of a black girl not being given a medal at an Irish gymnastics event ceremony.

Here is the video. I made a separate thread because I find this so heartbreaking that little girl at her age is subject to this kind of racism. I don't want to hear excuses it was an accident. Every other kid got a medal except her. Did you see the hurt and confused look on that poor little girl? Media needs to demand an explanation from that official other than an accident. I don't believe "accident" for a second. Also why does it take a fucking year to resolve this? Media needs to track down this woman until a better explanation is given.

 

[Zorba]

I see stuff like this happen every day around kids, looks like she started fumbling with the medals and forgot where she left off. Of course the video cuts off before she finishes as well. Kids get skipped on accident all the time.

Regardless, this can be handled locally, we don't need to create an internet mob to go destroy this woman's life.

 

[HomerJS]

I see stuff like this happen every day around kids, looks like she started fumbling with the medals and forgot where she left off. Of course the video cuts off before she finishes as well. Kids get skipped on accident all the time.

Regardless, this can be handled locally, we don't need to create an internet mob to go destroy this woman's life.

Damn, you must have attended a lot of kids medal ceremonies. I don't buy for a minute someone draping medals around kids necks her brain just happened to blank out? If she really has that much trouble functioning should she even be in that job?

Did you notice she ran out of medals for the last two at the end? She had enough of a brain to run offstage and get their medals. She had enough medals when she got to the black girl and skipped over her. Was it really that hard of a task?

Every kid in that line got a medal except...

Also the organization that claimed it was "unintentional" took 18 fucking months to issue an apology to the family. I guess that was an accident too.

 

[Zorba]

The video ended, you have no idea when the black girl got her medal.

But yes, I have a kid, I've been to many events, I hear all the time how she was skipped for one thing or the other. We have a last name very late in the alphabet, so she is skipped due to a lack of time weekly for various things by teachers that still do things alphabetically. Most award events like this an adult says at the end "okay did everyone get a medal?" They ask because they accidentally miss people all the time.

Humans make mistakes, all the time, this one was caught on camera and looks bad because there is a racial component. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen all the fucking time on accident. I also doubt this woman is a full time medal hander outer, but leave it to the Internet to call for people to be fired over anything (except an actual shitty waiter, they deserve extra tips).

 

[HomerJS]

The video ended, you have no idea when the black girl got her medal.

But yes, I have a kid, I've been to many events, I hear all the time how she was skipped for one thing or the other. We have a last name very late in the alphabet, so she is skipped due to a lack of time weekly for various things by teachers that still do things alphabetically. Most award events like this an adult says at the end "okay did everyone get a medal?" They ask because they accidentally miss people all the time.

Humans make mistakes, all the time, this one was caught on camera and looks bad because there is a racial component. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen all the fucking time on accident. I also doubt this woman is a full time medal hander outer, but leave it to the Internet to call for people to be fired over anything (except an actual shitty waiter, they deserve extra tips).

We know she didn't get hers with the rest of the kids. When my son was young, I never saw a kid skipped for a trophy or medal. They are kids so you take care doing that job.

Still doesn't explain why it took 18 months for the family to get an apology. Again, who knew passing out medals was so tough. Seems it wasn't so tough to ensure those last 2 girls got theirs, even if she had to walk off the stage to get them.

This smells like the incidents at the amusement park Sesame Place when the characters were skipping black children. There were treated as if they were invisible.

 

[Zorba]

We know she didn't get hers with the rest of the kids. When my son was young, I never saw a kid skipped for a trophy or medal. They are kids so you take care doing that job.

Still doesn't explain why it took 18 months for the family to get an apology. Again, who knew passing out medals was so tough. Seems it wasn't so tough to ensure those last 2 girls got theirs, even if she had to walk off the stage to get them.

This smells like the incidents at the amusement park Sesame Place when the characters were skipping black children. There were treated as if they were invisible.

She knew the last few kids didn't get medals, I thought that was obvious. The black girl did get her medal that day, as well.

If I find a random video of a white kid being skipped at an event would you accept this could've been a mistake? How many millions and millions of kids award ceremonies do you think happen every day around the world? Do you honestly think no kid is ever skipped on accident?

I'll admit it could've been racism too, but unless there is far more evidence than this video, I don't think it is worth sending in a internet mob to ruin the lady's life.

 

[Zorba]

BTW, my white daughter was completely ignored by Captain Hook at Disneyland, and he met with an asain girl that just walked up. It does happen to white kids too.

 

[HomerJS]

She knew the last few kids didn't get medals, I thought that was obvious. The black girl did get her medal that day, as well.

If I find a random video of a white kid being skipped at an event would you accept this could've been a mistake? How many millions and millions of kids award ceremonies do you think happen every day around the world? Do you honestly think no kid is ever skipped on accident?

I'll admit it could've been racism too, but unless there is far more evidence than this video, I don't think it is worth sending in a internet mob to ruin the lady's life.

You find one where person handing out medals is standing directly in front of the kid but just skips them then maybe. Doesn't explain why 18 months to apologize to the family. Perhaps GI felt family were not worthy of the apology.

 

[HomerJS]

Update: Gymnastics Ireland has finally got around to issuing a public apology. Note that this only happened after one of most famous gymnasts called them out.

Over 18 months after the fact. I guess that was a mistake too?

Black girl at centre of Irish gymnastics race row ‘badly let down’, says ministry

Statement comes as it emerges that head of Ireland’s sporting authority told family girl’s treatment was not racist

www.theguardian.com

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.

That lack of response was particularly shocking given how powerful the video was, Ogden said. “We were extremely surprised that nobody would engage with us. And so we could only make the assumption that they were hoping it would just go away.”

 

[Zorba]

You find one where person handing out medals is standing directly in front of the kid but just skips them then maybe. Doesn't explain why 18 months to apologize to the family. Perhaps GI felt family were not worthy of the apology.

Probably because there was apparently pending legal action. I'm guessing there probably was an explanation apology that the family didn't accept at the time.

So what do you think should be done? Should the Internet move forth and destroy this woman's life? Should the girl get a massive settlement? Should no one even consider if it could've been an accident and just firm the internet lynch mob?

It's pretty clear from the video she was fumbling with the medals, or as they claim the medals got tangled up, is it impossible to believe she looked down to untangle them and then restarted with the wrong kid when she looked back up?

Maybe she is racist as hell, but I don't think that can be judged from a 90 second video that looks like it was purposely cut off prematurely. (A video that also showed she hadn't brought the right number of medals too another mistake...)

 

[NWRMidnight]

She knew the last few kids didn't get medals, I thought that was obvious. The black girl did get her medal that day, as well.

If I find a random video of a white kid being skipped at an event would you accept this could've been a mistake? How many millions and millions of kids award ceremonies do you think happen every day around the world? Do you honestly think no kid is ever skipped on accident?

I'll admit it could've been racism too, but unless there is far more evidence than this video, I don't think it is worth sending in a internet mob to ruin the lady's life.

You don't have to go looking for a video, the last two white girls in this video didn't get medals either.. however, I don't condone what took place here, as she deliberately skipped the black girl right in the middle of the group of kids, and when she ran out of medals, she touched the second to last white girl and looked to say "hold on, be right back". (going off her body language).. The excuse that she lost where she was at before the black girl is bullshit, all she had to do was look up and see that the girl to the right of the black girl had a medal, and the black girl didn't... This was clearly deliberate, otherwise she would have also touched the black girl's hand and say "your's is missing, be right back" or something to that effect.. her body language was indifferent, meaning she didn't fucking care that she was skipping the black girl.. And to watch the black girl's smile fade as the other girls after her got medals, and the heavy sigh like "hear we go again", as if it's just normal.... heart breaking..

 

[Zorba]

You don't have to go looking for a video, the last two white girls in this video didn't get medals either.. however, I don't condone what took place here, as she deliberately skipped the black girl right in the middle of the group of kids, and when she ran out of medals, she touched the second to last white girl and looked to say "hold on, be right back". (going off her body language).. The excuse that she lost where she was at before the black girl is bullshit, all she had to do was look up and see that the girl to the right of the black girl had a medal, and the black girl didn't... This was clearly deliberate, otherwise she would have also touched the black girl's hand and say "your's is missing, be right back" or something to that effect.. her body language was indifferent, meaning she didn't fucking care that she was skipping the black girl.. And to watch the black girl's smile fade as the other girls after her got medals, and the heavy sigh like "hear we go again", as if it's just normal.... heart breaking..

Didn't care or didn't realize? There is a huge difference. The video also abruptly cuts off, so for all we know someone may have told her she missed the black girl and she immediately took a medal to her.

I don't know about you, but I've definitely gotten distracted in the middle of a task and lost my place. This is why daycares have to do face to name checks and counts every time they move from one spot to another, and daycares still leave kids on busses and in rooms by themselves. This is why all new cars tell you to look in your back seat when you turn off the engine.

Again she might have been racist as fuck, but I don't think we should automatically assume any misstep between a white person and a black person is the result of racism. The lady was a judge, so if it was racism it probably would've shown up in her scoring too. Did she skip any other black kids that day? I'm guessing not or else that would be in the stories.

 

[nickqt]

Show me the next 2 minutes of the video. If they literally walk her out a medal in that 2 minutes, then any apology is due to some kind of legal/financial/social media action, and not because the medal presenter is a secret Nazi.

If that girl walked off the stage without a medal and everyone else had one, then I'll devote a few neurons to being upset about this.

Where are the next 2 minutes of video?

 

[HomerJS]

Didn't care or didn't realize? There is a huge difference. The video also abruptly cuts off, so for all we know someone may have told her she missed the black girl and she immediately took a medal to her.

I don't know about you, but I've definitely gotten distracted in the middle of a task and lost my place. This is why daycares have to do face to name checks and counts every time they move from one spot to another, and daycares still leave kids on busses and in rooms by themselves. This is why all new cars tell you to look in your back seat when you turn off the engine.

Again she might have been racist as fuck, but I don't think we should automatically assume any misstep between a white person and a black person is the result of racism. The lady was a judge, so if it was racism it probably would've shown up in her scoring too. Did she skip any other black kids that day? I'm guessing not or else that would be in the stories.

The video shows her deliberately going off stage to get medals for the last 2 white girls when she ran out. How does she make an effort for the last 2 white girls but no effort for the black girl? The white girls were important enough for her but not the black girl. The hurt on that little girl's face showed it.

Absent some kind of reasonable explanation, racism is the only conclusion.

Here's my theory. The little black girl was invisible to this woman. Her underlying attitude was that little black girl was so insignificant her brain was not going to expel energy to ensure she got her medal. A subconscious thing but still racist. That explains why she was willing to extend effort for the last 2 white girls.

 

[HomerJS]

Show me the next 2 minutes of the video. If they literally walk her out a medal in that 2 minutes, then any apology is due to some kind of legal/financial/social media action, and not because the medal presenter is a secret Nazi.

If that girl walked off the stage without a medal and everyone else had one, then I'll devote a few neurons to being upset about this.

Where are the next 2 minutes of video?

Uuugh, the PARENTS said their daughter did not get her medal. Uuugh, the organization finally admitted it happed but claims it was not deliberate. The end of the video shows that judge going off stage to retrieve medals for the last 2 white girls.

 

[Zorba]

The video shows her deliberately going off stage to get medals for the last 2 white girls when she ran out. How does she make an effort for the last 2 white girls but no effort for the black girl? The white girls were important enough for her but not the black girl. The hurt on that little girl's face showed it.

Absent some kind of reasonable explanation, racism is the only conclusion.

Here's my theory. The little black girl was invisible to this woman. Her underlying attitude was that little black girl was so insignificant her brain was not going to expel energy to ensure she got her medal. A subconscious thing but still racist. That explains why she was willing to extend effort for the last 2 white girls.

She knew she missed those girls. She did not realize she skipped the black girl. This seriously isn't a hard concept.

I agree it is possible the reason she accidently skipped the black girl after untangling the medals could be due to subconscious bias.

Again, the video is obviously cut abruptly, so there is no way to know when or how the black girl got her medal, this judge may have taken her one 10 seconds later. When a video is obviously cut like that, I assume it was cut because whatever happened next didn't support the narrative.

 

[Zorba]

Uuugh, the PARENTS said their daughter did not get her medal. Uuugh, the organization finally admitted it happed but claims it was not deliberate. The end of the video shows that judge going off stage to retrieve medals for the last 2 white girls.

The story said the black girl did get her medal that day after the ceremony.

 

[HomerJS]

The story said the black girl did get her medal that day after the ceremony.

I'm referring to on stage. I haven't found confirmation she got her medal that day. That organization already published a lie that they issued an apology to the parents early on and the parents denied it. Even if GI handed the girl her medal as the family was leaving the event doesn't change anything.

 

[Zorba]

I'm referring to on stage. I haven't found confirmation she got her medal that day. That organization already published a lie that they issued an apology to the parents early on and the parents denied it. Even if GI handed the girl her medal as the family was leaving the event doesn't change anything.

Okay, so just to be clear. You think it is impossible for a white person to make a mistake towards a black person without it being a racist act? And the solution to any such mistake is immediately firing and public apologies all the way up.

There is no world where you can accept that a human being could lose their place in a line after being distracted in a non-normal environment?

I'm sorry you have such high expectations for white people, but white people aren't perfect they can and do make mistakes.

But the video is cut short on purpose, the stories aren't clear on when the girl got her medal, it sounds like an explanation/apology was provided at the time and the mother rejected it, and of course there was a lawsuit over it. There is no reason why this is international news with the facts provided. I'm sorry the girl was skipped and I'm sorry the judge is going to have to endure months of harassment of what was most likely an innocent mistake.

In the future they should go out with the right number of medals and then they'll know if they missed someone.

 

[HomerJS]

Okay, so just to be clear. You think it is impossible for a white person to make a mistake towards a black person without it being a racist act? And the solution to any such mistake is immediately firing and public apologies all the way up.

There is no world where you can accept that a human being could lose their place in a line after being distracted in a non-normal environment?

I'm sorry you have such high expectations for white people, but white people aren't perfect they can and do make mistakes.

But the video is cut short on purpose, the stories aren't clear on when the girl got her medal, it sounds like an explanation/apology was provided at the time and the mother rejected it, and of course there was a lawsuit over it. There is no reason why this is international news with the facts provided. I'm sorry the girl was skipped and I'm sorry the judge is going to have to endure months of harassment of what was most likely an innocent mistake.

In the future they should go out with the right number of medals and then they'll know if they missed someone.

I didn't say it was impossible for a white person to make a mistake and it not be racist. I'm saying this situation smells of subconscious or systemic racism on the judges part. Her brain for whatever reason didn't consider that little black enough of a person to warrant correcting any kind of mistake. The same kind of mistake she corrected for the white kids. It's my theory because I doubt that woman is so stupid to be that overtly racist on a stage in front of a crowd of people.

Now I will ask you the same question on the other side. Should we tell that little girl who was embarrassed on that stage to "shut up and get over it"? "Life is tough and it ain't going to be the last time you are mistreated"?

The actions taken be all involved smacks of, "we don't give a damn about what happened to her". That's why the public apology and the apology to the parents didn't come until that video was released.

 

[CU]

For what it is worth I have seen kids missed or given the wrong award / medal. My youngest just got the wrong medal a fews days ago at a large event. I just tell them it was a mistake and don't worry about it. Most people are nice and mistakes happen. If you are doing it for rewards you are doing it for the wrong reason.

But based on this I should be getting media attention so I can destroy some strangers life. What a world to live in. :-(

 

[nickqt]

Uuugh, the PARENTS said their daughter did not get her medal. Uuugh, the organization finally admitted it happed but claims it was not deliberate. The end of the video shows that judge going off stage to retrieve medals for the last 2 white girls.

Gymnastics Ireland said a written apology from the official was issued. It also said the girl did get her medal after the ceremony.

However, the Irish Independent on Sunday, quoting the girl's mother anonymously, said she believes Gymnastics Ireland has failed to publicly apologise and she has taken the matter to the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation in Switzerland.

The Irish Independent also reported that the mother is concerned the family will be a target for racist abuse and wants the video removed by social media companies.'

So the girl got her medal that day and the parents did receive an apology...but the apology wasn't public.

Also, the family doesn't seem to want this video streaming publicly.

Seems like a done deal for all parties, minus a publicly-performed apology by some random gymnastics organization that either made a mistake, or is filled with secret Nazis trying to destroy society one gymnast at a time.

I'll spend those few neurons being upset about 10,000 other problems leading to the upcoming collapse of society.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I was snubbed by a female of a certain nationality when she was distributing Christmas cake in my company when I was a newly joined employee there. Every other person in the room got a piece of cake and a smile from her. Even those past me. Then she goes out of the room and sends someone else to give me the cake. I don't care what her reason or justification was. If she had treated me like everyone else, maybe I wouldn't have done what I did to her. Never spoke to her properly till this very day. Everyone in my company knows that I have zero interest in looking at her or talking to her. And everyone wonders what could have happened. This black girl was wronged in the worst possible way. Ignored like she didn't even exist. I know exactly how she felt and it was NOT a good feeling.

 

[Zorba]

I didn't say it was impossible for a white person to make a mistake and it not be racist. I'm saying this situation smells of subconscious or systemic racism on the judges part. Her brain for whatever reason didn't consider that little black enough of a person to warrant correcting any kind of mistake. The same kind of mistake she corrected for the white kids. It's my theory because I doubt that woman is so stupid to be that overtly racist on a stage in front of a crowd of people.

Now I will ask you the same question on the other side. Should we tell that little girl who was embarrassed on that stage to "shut up and get over it"? "Life is tough and it ain't going to be the last time you are mistreated"?

The actions taken be all involved smacks of, "we don't give a damn about what happened to her". That's why the public apology and the apology to the parents didn't come until that video was released.

I agree with you that you could easy have been subconscious bias because I also agree that it would be a very stupid to carry out overt racism that way. Although I still disagree that the situation with the girls at the end was the same. I personally think this could be a decent conversation on subconscious bias and how she might have more easily skipped a black girl than a white girl because of how she valued them in her head. But it is being discussed as a overt, purposeful skipping of the black girl, which I doubt it was.

I believe that as soon as someone realized the girl didn't get her medal, she should have been given one and given an apology. If that was immediately after the video cutoff, a "Oh, I'm sorry" was probably enough, if it was 10 minutes later, probably a little something more. If there is a history with this judge, then something more. We don't really know what happened after the video cutoff, so it is hard to know if they gave her the medal and said "tough shit" or if the gave her the medal 10 seconds later and said "Oh, I am really sorry about that, I didn't mean to skip you" and the mom didn't think that was good enough. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle of that, the mom probably got the vibe they didn't care and the organization probably didn't properly empathize.

 

[HomerJS]

I agree with you that you could easy have been subconscious bias because I also agree that it would be a very stupid to carry out overt racism that way. Although I still disagree that the situation with the girls at the end was the same. I personally think this could be a decent conversation on subconscious bias and how she might have more easily skipped a black girl than a white girl because of how she valued them in her head. But it is being discussed as a overt, purposeful skipping of the black girl, which I doubt it was.

I believe that as soon as someone realized the girl didn't get her medal, she should have been given one and given an apology. If that was immediately after the video cutoff, a "Oh, I'm sorry" was probably enough, if it was 10 minutes later, probably a little something more. If there is a history with this judge, then something more. We don't really know what happened after the video cutoff, so it is hard to know if they gave her the medal and said "tough shit" or if the gave her the medal 10 seconds later and said "Oh, I am really sorry about that, I didn't mean to skip you" and the mom didn't think that was good enough. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle of that, the mom probably got the vibe they didn't care and the organization probably didn't properly empathize.

I said in #14 my theory her brain completely devalued that little girl and that's why she was skipped over. The act of skipping her was overt. We may never really know the motive for it. Treating her like she was some bug under her shoe is just as egregious as overt. That little black girl was treated as if her life didn't matter which is just as racist.

Systemic or overt result is the same.