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Jordan Chiles has spoken out about the loss of her bronze medal, after her floor routine score was bumped from fifth to third place following an investigation into the scoring system, and then demoted to fifth place once again after an appeal from an opponent.
The Team USA gymnast took to Instagram on Thursday, August 15, to address the debacle in a statement. “I am overwhelmed by the love I have received over the past few days. I am also incredibly grateful to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, USAG, and the USOPC for their unwavering support during this difficult time,” she began her post.
“While celebrating my Olympic achievements, I heard the devastating news that my bronze medal had been stripped from me. I relied on the appeal filed by USAG, which presented conclusive evidence that my score met all the rules. This appeal was unsuccessful.”
Chiles continued, scathing, saying she had “no words” for what happened and considered it a “significant blow” to all those who fought for her along the way.
“To add insult to injury, spontaneous racial attacks on social media are wrong and extremely hurtful,” Chiles said. “I have put my heart and soul into this sport and I am very proud to represent my culture and my country.”
On August 5, during her floor routine, she scored 13.666, which placed her in fifth place. However, her coach requested the judges to increase her difficulty score, who then changed her score to 13.766, which moved her to third place and displaced Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu to fourth place in the rankings.
After Chiles received her bronze medal, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), an independent body that resolves international sports disputes, alleging that the American coach filed the query after the one-minute deadline.
On 10 August, the CAS ruled that the inquiry had indeed been filed outside the one-minute time limit and that the original scores would be reinstated. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) upheld this decision and ordered Chile to return its bronze medal. The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee announced on Tuesday 13 August that a ceremony will be held in Bucharest on Friday 16 August to award the medal to Bărbosu.
Shortly after, Chiles posted three broken heart emojis on her Instagram story after announcing that she would be spending some time away from social media. “I’m taking this time and stepping away from social media for my mental health, thank you,” she wrote at the time.
“I will never stray from my values of competing with integrity, striving for excellence, upholding the values of sportsmanship and the rules that dictate fairness. I pride myself on cheering for everyone, regardless of team or country,” her statement read Thursday. “Finding joy again has been a cultural shift and I love seeing others embrace it. I feel like I’ve given everyone permission to be authentic to who they are.”
Chiles concluded: “I am now facing one of the most difficult moments of my career. Believe me when I say that I have had many. I will face this challenge as I have faced others, and I will do everything I can to ensure that justice is done. I believe that at the end of this journey, the people in charge will do the right thing.”
