'Maybe Next Time We'll Paint Our Skin Black So We Can Win': An Italian Gymnast Who Made Racist Comments Is Going For Gold at Rio Olympics

You probably don't recall the name Carlotta Ferlito.

She's an Italian gymnast and Olympian. And she landed herself in hot water after she made a racist comment about Simone Biles back at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.

After finishing in fifth place behind Biles, the then 18-year-old told a journalist,

I told Vanny [her teammate] that next time we should also paint our skin black, so then we could win too.

Obviously her comment sparked outrage.

She posted an apology on Twitter in the wake of some major trolling.

That was then. This is now:

So why are we telling you all this?

Ferlito is smashing Rio at the moment, and she just progressed to Thursday's women's all-around individual finals.

She's so close to that gold medal she can taste it.

Question is, can she take it home without having to paint herself black? I guess we'll find out on Thursday.

Now you have context as to why you might see this story resurfacing in your News Feed, but let's all hope she's grown up a bit in the past four years.

[olympics]