Team USA and gymnast Jordan Chiles didn’t let the withdrawal of their Olympic bronze medal stop them from showing off their team’s gold on Tuesday.
In a New Year’s Eve post celebrating the medals the United States won at the Paris Olympics 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 is congratulated by teammate Simone Biles (L) of the United States after dramatically claiming the bronze medal with a score change after the women’s floor final during the artistic gymnastics competition at the Bercy Arena during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France. (Mehmet Murat Onel/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The 23-year-old gymnast is currently involved in an appeal against a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision that dropped her from third place in the event to fifth in the women’s floor exercise final.
Romania’s Ana Barbosu initially scored higher than Chiles after the American finished her routine. Then, at the request of an American coach, the judges reviewed the footage, changed the score and elevated Chiles to third place, sparking initial controversy and fierce reaction from the Romanians.
The decision to give the medal to Chiles resulted in 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 Chile’s appeal was filed after the one-minute deadline and changed its score to leave it back in fifth place. The next day, August 11, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) determined that Chiles must return the medal.
However, after the end of the Olympics in August, USA Today reported that Chiles and the rest of the US Olympic team had “without intention“to return the medal, as they continue to appeal the IOC’s decision.
Chiles’ lawyers have argued that his coach did indeed make the request on time and that there is video evidence to prove it, and they have also indicated that the official who made the decision to strip Chiles of his medal had ties to Romania.
“Chiles asks the Supreme Court to determine that the CAS decision was procedurally deficient for two reasons,” Chiles’ lawyers said in a statement, according to to Olympics.com.
TEAM USA’S TOP 5 MOMENTS AT THE PARIS OLYMPICS
Team USA, from left, Jordan Chiles, Hezly Rivera, Jade Carey, Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee pose for photos after competing in the women’s artistic gymnastics qualification round at the Bercy Arena at the Olympic Games Summer 2024, Sunday, July 28, 2024. Paris, France. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
“First, the CAS violated Chile’s ‘fundamental right to be heard’ by refusing to consider video evidence showing that its investigation was presented on time, in direct contradiction to the conclusions of the CAS decision.
“Second, the entire CAS procedure was unfair because Chiles was not properly informed that Hamid G. Gharavi, the chairman of the CAS panel that revoked Chiles’ bronze medal and awarded it to a Romanian gymnast, had “a serious conflict of interest: Mr. Gharavi has acted as Romania’s lawyer for almost a decade and was actively representing Romania at the time of the CAS arbitration.”
Chiles also filed an appeal with the Swiss Federal Supreme Court to overturn the CAS decision. He argued that he was not given a fair opportunity to defend himself and that the CAS did not properly consider the video evidence.
Chiles and her teammates have spoken openly about the emotional toll losing the medal has taken on her in the months since the Olympics ended.
Chiles gave his first interview about the incident this week during a panel at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit 2024 in September. The gymnast choked and cried when asked about the topic.
“For me, everything that has happened has nothing to do with the medal, but with the color of my skin,” Chiles said.
Chiles previously claimed that he was facing “racial attacks” from social media users in a statement posted to X on August 15. When Chiles won the bronze medal, it resulted in the first gymnastics podium in Olympic history to feature three black contestants.
Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles of Team USA pose with their Paris 2024 Olympic medals after the artistic gymnastics women’s floor exercise final on the tenth day 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 brought me to this position of being an athlete and I felt like I had been stripped of everything.”
The controversy has led to international scrutiny of the judges who scored the event. The Center for Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) issued a joint statement on August 15 condemning the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the judging team for the result.
“If the FIG had implemented such a mechanism or arrangement, many headaches would have been avoided,” the CAS ad hoc panel said in a statement. “The Panel expresses the hope that the FIG will draw consequences from this case, in relation to these three extraordinary athletes and also for other athletes and their support staff, in the future, so that this never happens again.”
