american gymnast Jordan Chiles In her first interview on the issue of withdrawal of Olympic medal, she could not hold back her tears.
The 23-year-old Olympian, nicknamed “Chick,” was caught up in a case The biggest scams At the Paris Olympic Games she won a bronze medal in the women’s floor exercise final after American coaches asked officials to review the scores.
Romania’s Ana Barbosu initially scored higher than American Chiles, but then judges reviewed footage, changed the score, and moved Chiles to third place, sparking initial controversy and fierce reaction from the Romanians.
Then, on the last day of the Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that Chile’s appeal had been submitted after the one-minute time limit, and changed her score to fifth place again. The next day, on August 11, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) determined that Chile must return the medal.
Chiles gave her first interview about the incident on Wednesday during a panel at the Forbes Power Women Summit 2024. The gymnast broke down in tears when asked about the topic.
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Jordan Chiles before the apparatus floor final at the Paris Olympics on August 5, 2024. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
“For me, what happened is not about the medal; it’s about the color of my skin,” Chiles said.
Chiles previously claimed she was facing “racially motivated attacks” from social media users in a statement posted on X on August 15. When Chiles won the bronze medal, it resulted in the first gymnastics podium in Olympic history that included three black competitors.
“It’s about the fact that there were things that led me to this position as an athlete and I feel like everything has been taken away from me.”
Chiles then compared the incident to a chapter in her career in 2018, when she had just finished high school and made her senior international debut and was working toward her goal of competing at the Tokyo Olympics. But despite the success, Chiles admitted she “lost the love for the game” that year because of an abusive coach, whom she declined to name.
“I felt like I lost the love for the game in 2018. I lost it again. I just felt like there weren’t a lot of people who could support me and who I thought could support me in that situation. I felt like I was really left in the dark,” she said.
Chiles said, “I was in a position to deal with a coach who emotionally and verbally abused me. I didn’t have the ability to use my voice or be heard.”
Jordan Chiles breaks silence after Olympic bronze medal decision: ‘This decision feels unjust’
Jordan Chiles flies through the air while competing on the uneven bars. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Chiles previously spoke about the unnamed abusive coach during an episode View “Peace of Mind with Taraji” on Facebook In November 2021, Chiles said that her previous coach “used to call me fat. He said I looked like a donut,” and constantly criticized her eating. In 2019, Chiles switched coaches to train at the World Gymnastics Center in Texas, which is owned by Simone Biles’ family.
But now, while she is still in shock over losing her Olympic bronze medal, which she has not returned despite an IOC order, Chiles says the medal is rightfully hers.
“I made history and I’ll always make history, it’s something I did the right way, I followed the rules, my coach followed the rules, we did everything absolutely right,” Chiles said.
After the Olympics ended in August, USA Today reported that Chiles and the rest of the U.S. Olympic team had “no intention” He has decided to return the medal and continue to appeal the IOC’s decision.
Biles told People later that month that She has joined An attempt to appeal the decision and reinstate Chile into third place.
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Jordan Chiles is congratulated by teammate Simone Biles after winning a dramatic bronze medal following a score change after the women’s floor final at the Olympic Games in Paris on August 5, 2024. (Mehmet Murat Onel/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Do we feel that they followed the right processes to come to this decision? No,” Biles said. “That’s exactly why we want justice for Jordan and that’s why we’re going to continue to support and uplift him.”
The controversy has sparked international scrutiny over the judges who scored the event. The Center for Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) issued a joint statement on August 15 condemning the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the judging team for the result.
“If FIG had implemented such a mechanism or arrangement, a lot of problems could have been avoided,” the CAS ad hoc panel said in a release. “The panel hopes that FIG will take into account the consequences of this case in future with regard to these three exceptional athletes and other athletes and their support personnel, so that this will never happen again.”
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