Jordan Chiles cries as she breaks silence on losing USA Olympic bronze medal: ‘People didn’t support me, I was left in the dark’

A tearful Jordan Chiles opened up to a live audience on Wednesday about the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to strip her of her bronze medal from the floor routine at the Paris Olympics.

‘The biggest thing that was taken from me was the recognition of who I was, not just my sport, but the person I am,’ Chiles told the Forbes Power Women’s Summit.

Chiles initially finished fifth in the eight-woman final before Team USA coach Cecile Landi appealed Chiles’ score, asking to receive credit for a maneuver that would boost her score by .1. The appeal was granted, moving Chiles into third. She was awarded the bronze and participated in the medal ceremony following the competition.

However, Romania successfully protested to the CAS that Landi’s appeal was not made within one minute of Chiles’ score being posted, and the panel has since ruled the bronze should go to Barbosu. The International Gymnastics Federation reinstated the initial order of finish and the IOC announced on it would reallocate the bronze to Barbosu, who received the medal during a ceremony in Bucharest last month.

‘To me, everything that has gone on is not about the medal,’ Chiles, who is African American, told the crowd on Wednesday. ‘It’s about my skin color, it’s about the fact that there were things that have led up to this position of being an athlete, and I felt like everything has been stripped. I felt like back in 2018, where I did lose the love of the sport, I lost it again. I just felt like there wasn’t a lot of people supporting me.’

Asked for more details on what happened in 2018, Chiles referenced problems with a particular coach. 

‘I was dealing with a coach who emotionally and verbally abused me, I didn’t have the ability to use my voice or be heard,’ she said. ‘But I made history, and I will always continue to make history. I’m always going to keep walking forward.’ 

USA Gymnastics has said it will continue efforts to let Chiles keep the medal. 

The sport’s governing body in the United States disputes Romania’s claim that Landi’s appeal came 4 seconds too late, saying Sunday it submitted video evidence to CAS that showed Landi first appealed 13 seconds before the deadline.

CAS released a detailed account of how it reached its decision, noting that USA Gymnastics did not voice any concern about the timekeeping system during the hearing — which USA Gymnastics was given less than 24 hours to prepare for due to clerical errors by CAS that sent notifications to the wrong email address — and that Landi noted her request for an inquiry was granted ‘immediately.’

The 23-year-old Chiles — who will return to competition in January when she starts her junior year at UCLA — has also been the subject of social media attacks, some of them racially charged, that she’s called ‘wrong and extremely hurtful.’ 

‘I am now confronted with one of the most challenging moments of my career,’ Chiles posted. ‘Believe me when I say I have had many. I will approach the challenge as I have others — and will make every effort to ensure that justice is done. I believe that at the end of this journey, the people in control will do the right thing.’