Jordan Chiles Lost Her Love For Gymnastics After Olympic Medal Drama
"Everything that has gone on is not about the medal, it's about my skin color."
What should have been a celebratory moment for Jordan Chiles has turned into a confusing, bureaucratic mess. On Aug. 5, Chiles represented the United States in the women’s floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She was awarded the bronze medal, her first individual medal win at the Olympics, but now it may be taken away from her. Here’s how a fraction of a point and an obscure rule have turned this whole situation into a complicated back-and-forth.
During the women’s floor exercise final, Chiles initially received a score of 13.666 from the judges. That score would have placed her in fifth, behind Romanian athletes Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who both scored 13.7 in the event. However, Team USA head coach Cecile Landi filed an inquiry with the judges, arguing Chiles’ difficulty score hadn’t been valued accurately. The judges accepted the inquiry, which wound up raising Chiles’ total to 13.766. The small but significant change shot Chiles up above the Romanians to claim third overall.
In basic terms, the judges had incorrectly valued the difficulty of Chiles’ routine, realized their error, and gave her the score she deserved. Nobody is actually disputing that Chiles didn’t deserve her 13.766 score — the issue is actually all about Landi’s inquiry.
The Deciding Factor Comes Down To A Timing Issue
The problem revolves around a pretty specific deadline for when a coach can submit an inquiry to judges. Because Chiles was the last up in the floor final, her coach only had one minute to file the inquiry after her score was revealed. After the ceremony, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation filed a complaint to the Court of Arbitration for Sport arguing that Landi’s inquiry did not meet that deadline.
The court ruled in favor of Romania, reinstating Chiles’ 13.666 score, and the International Olympic Committee announced that it will reallocate the bronze medal to Barbosu. (BTW, Barbosu was ruled third-place above Maneca-Voinea despite their identical totals because of Barbosu’s higher execution score).
Team USA Is Fighting Back
After the IOC announcement, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee issued a statement declaring they’d be appealing the decision, mentioning “critical errors” in how the scoring and subsequent bureaucracy had been handled. Shortly afterward, USA Gymnastics confirmed they had submitted a letter and video evidence that proved Landi’s inquiry was made 47 seconds after Chiles’ scores were posted, within the one-minute deadline.
However, a day after this submission, USA Gymnastics announced that the Court of Arbitration for Sport could not reverse their decision. The organization is not slowing down, though, promising to continue exploring “every possible avenue and appeal process” to ensure Chiles gets to keep her medal.
Jordan Is Calling For Justice
Following the failed appeal, Chiles broke her social media silence with by posting an emotional note on Aug. 15. “I heard the devastating news that my bronze medal had been stripped away,” Chiles wrote. “I have no words. This decision feels unjust and comes as a significant blow, not just to me, but to everyone who has championed my journey.”
She continued, promising that she will continue to fight the court’s ruling however she can. “I am now confronted with one of the most challenging moments of my career,” she wrote. “I will approach this challenge as I have others — and will make every effort to ensure that justice is done.”
The Situation Hurt Jordan On A Personal Level
About a month after the Olympics, Chiles publicly spoke about how the battle to retain her bronze medal has been affecting her for the first time. “The biggest thing that was taken from me was that it was the recognition of who I was. Not just my sport, but the person I am," Chiles said in a speech at the Forbes Power Women's Summit on Sept. 11. "To me, everything that has gone on is not about the medal, it's about my skin color.”
She went on to say that the rulings brought her back to a dark place, when she was “dealing with a coach who emotionally and verbally abused me” six years ago. “I felt like when I was back in 2018 where I did lose the love of the sport, I lost it again,” Chiles said.
Despite the emotional turmoil, Chiles is not giving up the fight. “I made history and I'll always continue to make history for something that I rightfully did. I followed the rules, my coach followed the rules,” Chiles said.
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