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Team USA and gymnast Jordan Chiles didn’t let being stripped of her Olympic bronze medal stop them from bragging about her team gold on Tuesday.
In a New Year’s message to celebrate the medals that the US won at Olympics in Paris this year, the team included a photo of Chiles holding the gold medal she and her American teammates won in the women’s team event. Chiles was the only gymnast included in the collage.
Chiles reposted the photo to her personal Instagram story later on Tuesday.
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Jordan Chiles of the United States congratulates teammate Simone Biles, left, after she dramatically won the bronze medal following the change of count after the women’s gymnastics final at the Bercy Arena during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. August 5, 2024 in Paris, France. (Mehmet Murat Onel/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The 23-year-old gymnast is currently appealing a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that saw her move from third place in the competition to fifth in the women’s free exercise final.
Romania’s Ana Barboso initially scored higher than Chiles after the American finished her program. Then, after a request from the American coach, the refs reviewed the video, reversed the score and elevated Chiles to third place, sparking initial controversy and a fierce reaction from the Romanians.
The decision to give the medal to Chiles led to the first All Black podium in Olympic gymnastics history as she joined teammate Simone Biles and Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade.
But then, on the final day of the Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that Chiles’ appeal was filed after one minute had expired and changed her score to put her back in fifth place. The next day, August 11, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ruled that Chiles must return the medal.
However, after the Olympics ended in August, USA Today reported that Chiles and the rest of the U.S. Olympic team “there is no intention” of returning the medal as they continue to appeal the IOC’s decision.
Chiles’ lawyers argued that her coach did make the request in time and that there was video evidence to prove it, and also showed that the official who made the decision to strip Chiles of her medal was linked to Romania.
“Chiles is asking the Supreme Court to find that the CAS decision was procedurally flawed for two reasons,” Chiles’ lawyers said in a statement. on Olympics.com.
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Team USA, left to right, Jordan Chiles, Hazley Rivera, Jade Carey, Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee pose for photos after the women’s gymnastics qualification competition at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024. Paris, France. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
“First, CAS violated Chiles’ fundamental ‘right to be heard’ by refusing to consider video evidence that showed her request was sent in time, which directly contradicts the findings in the CAS decision.
“Secondly, the entire CAS process was unfair because Chiles was not properly informed that Hamid G. Haravi, president of the CAS group that annulled Chiles’ bronze medal and awarded it instead to a Romanian gymnast, had a serious conflict of interest: Mr. Haravi acted as Romania’s lawyer for almost a decade and actively represented Romania during CAS arbitration.’
Chiles also appealed to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court to overturn the CAS decision. She claimed that she was not given a fair chance to defend herself and that CAS did not properly consider the video evidence.
Chiles and her teammates have been open about the emotional toll the medal loss took on her in the months since the Olympics ended.
Chiles gave her first sit-down interview about the incident this week during a discussion in the Forbes Power Women’s Summit 2024 in September. The gymnast choked up and cried when asked about the topic.
“For me, everything that happens is not about the medal, it’s about the color of my skin,” said Chiles.
Chiles previously claimed she faced “racial attacks” from social media users in a statement posted to X on August 15. When Chiles won the bronze medal, it led to the first gymnastics podium in Olympic history with three black competitors.
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Team USA’s Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles pose with their Paris 2024 Olympic medals after the women’s gymnastics free exercise final on day ten of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Bercy Arena on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
“It’s about the fact that there were things that led to me being an athlete and I felt like everything was taken away.”
The controversy led to international scrutiny of the judges judging the competition. The Center for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) released a joint statement on August 15 condemning the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the judging team for the result.
“If the FIG had established such a mechanism or arrangement, a great deal of heartache could have been avoided,” the CAS special commission said in a release. “The group hopes that the FIG will consider the implications of this case for these three extraordinary athletes, as well as for other athletes and their support staff in the future, so that this never happens again.”
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