Black personal trainer apologises for slavery post criticised by top sprinter Dina Asher-Smith

Personal trainer Matt Simpson has issued an apology on social media for a post about a slavery workout.

Matt Simpson, who is black himself, said he meant no malice and apologised for what he described as an ill-judged post on the Luton and Dunstable PureGym Facebook page.

He described himself as a proud black man who had wanted to bring his history together with his passion and profession but had consequently found himself vilified as a racist.

He said he'd learned a hard lesson and was very sorry if he had caused any offence.

The GB Olympic medallist Dina Asher-Smith has tweeted to say she was shocked and hurt by the post.

Dina said she was in disbelief that anyone would think it was ok and the incident showed how important it was for companies to train workers in diversity and inclusion.

PureGym apologised unreservedly after a post was shared on the Facebook page of its Luton branch advertising a new workout entitled '12 Years Of Slave'.

The post, which has since been deleted, was uploaded to the Facebook page of the Luton and Dunstable branch on Monday and said: "Slavery was hard and so is this."

According to the post, the workout was designed to celebrate Black History Month and was inspired by the Oscar-winning 2013 film '12 Years a Slave'.

Dina Asher-Smith is an Olympic bronze medallist who had been tipped for great success in this year's Olympics before they were postponed to 2021.