Jordan Chiles says she received racist messages after ‘unfair’ Olympic medal decision | News, results, highlights, stats and rumors
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Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles has released her first statement since the International Olympic Committee asked her to return her bronze medal in floor exercise from the Summer Olympics in Paris.
Notably, she called the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s rejection of USA Gymnastics’ appeal “unjust” and noted that she had been the target of “unsolicited racially motivated attacks on social media.”
Chiles initially finished fifth in the floor exercise, but moved up to third place after US coach Cecile Landi asked about her result. Tom Schad from USA Today explained the situation.
“In the women’s floor exercise final more than a week ago, Chile’s score increased from 13.666 to 13.766 after her coach, Cecile Landi, appealed a deduction she received for an element known as Tour Jete Full. The appeal, known as ‘inquiry’ in gymnastics, cleared the deduction, moved Chiles to third place and pushed Ana Barbosu of Romania off the podium.”
However, the Romanian team successfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, stating that Landis’s appeal came four seconds after the 60-second time limit had expired.
USA Gymnastics itself appealed to CAS and released a statement on the matter, which said, among other things:
“Time-stamped video evidence presented by USA Gymnastics on Sunday evening shows that Landi first uttered her request for an investigation at the investigation table 47 seconds after the result was released, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the result was originally released.
“The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the Tribunal’s decision and therefore USAG had no opportunity to submit it beforehand.”
That appeal was denied, but USA Gymnastics will continue to fight for Chiles to keep the bronze medal.
As expected, there was a wave of public support for Chile.
espnW @espnW
Simone Biles and Suni Lee expressed their support for Jordan Chiles after the court annulled the investigation that awarded Chiles a bronze medal ❤️ pic.twitter.com/8py6bgnOO5
TODAY @TODAYshow
In a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, gymnast Jordan Chiles of the US team was stripped of her bronze medal because her coach asked for the results four seconds too late. @Aly_Raisman shares her perspective on TODAY. pic.twitter.com/3yBurjyMYG
Nancy Armor @Subscribe
Jordan Chiles did nothing wrong. She did not dope. She did not cheat. It does not matter. She loses her bronze medal because of a procedural error.
The adults supposedly responsible screwed up, but Chiles is paying the price. https://t.co/T2H07dWKrr
Jeff D. Lowe @Subscribe
It takes YEARS, endless investigations and appeals for athletes and countries involved in CHEATING SCANDALS to lose the medals they have won.
Meanwhile, Jordan Chiles, who did not cheat and was ripped off by the referees who FAILED to do their jobs, immediately loses his medal. Insane. #TeamUSA #Paris2024 https://t.co/LIIYUTRMxa
Chiles is an incredibly accomplished gymnast, medal or not. At the 2022 World Championships, she won silver medals in vault and floor exercise, as well as gold in the team all-around.
At UCLA, Chiles won gold on uneven bars and floor exercise at the 2023 NCAA Championships.
And she’s a gold medalist after the U.S. team took top honors in the team all-around in Paris. She was also part of the U.S. team that won silver at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
