A lot of controversy has recently been brought to light regarding Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles. Jordan Lucella Elizabeth Chiles recently competed In the Paris Olympics after winning a silver medal in the previous 2020 Summer Olympics.
During the 2024 Olympic Games after Chiles had completed her routine, her coaches appealed to the judges that the level of difficulty awarded to her was incorrect. At the time the judges agreed and adjusted the score accordingly which, under the circumstances, allowed Chiles to surpass the two competitors who had previously scored higher than her, with a new score of 13.766. The Court of Arbitration for Sport later stated that the inquiry from Jordan’s coach took place 4 seconds beyond the 1-minute deadline. However, following this statement, the U.S. released a video in which it can be seen that the appeal took place in 47 seconds after the score was posted. Despite the release of this video, having already stripped Chiles of her medal, the CAS released a statement saying that nothing could be done, and they were unable to reconsider the decision.
This statement was followed by outrage from not only the U.S. but by many others who had all supported Chiles in the past. After learning that she would not receive her medal back, Chiles released a heartfelt message. Chiles would first thank her coaches, family, fans, and the entire U.S. Olympic Organization for supporting and helping her through this tough time. She would then go on to address the reclaiming of her medal by the CAS, where she stated: “I have no words. This feels unjust and comes as a significant blow not just to me but to everyone who has championed my journey. To add to the heartbreak the unprompted racially driven attacks on social media are wrong and extremely hurtful.”
This statement brought to light and emphasized the racial attacks that had been taking place. However, considering all this, the Olympian who received the bronze that was taken from Chiles, Ana Barbosu also began experiencing hate from supporters of Chiles, some people even claim (although not backed by any evidence whatsoever) that Chiles had something to do with the hate directed at Barbosu.
Following the ceremony where she received the medal that had been taken from Chiles, Ana stated that she couldn’t help but think of Chiles and how she hoped no one had done anything wrong at the Olympics.
The CAS still has not released any more significant statements on the situation. This is a very mixed situation as some hold the belief that the Olympic rules have been the same and shouldn’t be changed for a single athlete; they believe it has always and will always remain the same regardless of the circumstances. Others have stated that in this instance, the rules were not followed, and they were changed in support of Ana Barbosu. Barbosu and Chiles did not have a say in how this turned out; the CAS has made a series of decisions and actions which have not found that the coaches were right in the timing of their appeal. The decision has been made not to reinstate Chiles’ initial score.