Jordan Chiles sobs on stage about the loss of his Olympic medal: “It’s about the color of my skin”

American gymnast Jordan Chiles couldn't hold back her tears in her first interview about the stripping of her Olympic medal.

The 23-year-old Olympian, nicknamed “Chick,” was embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of the Paris Games when she won bronze in the women's floor exercise final after American coaches asked officials to review the result.

Romania's Ana Barbosu initially scored higher than Chiles after the American finished her routine. Then the judges reviewed the footage, changed the score and relegated Chiles to third place, causing an initial controversy and strong backlash from the Romanians.

Then, on the last day of the Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that Chile's appeal had been submitted after the one-minute deadline and changed her score, dropping her to fifth place. The next day, August 11, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ruled that Chile's medal must be returned.

Chiles gave her first interview about the incident this week during a panel at the Forbes Power Women's Summit 2024 on Wednesday. The gymnast was visibly moved and had tears in her eyes when asked about the topic.

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“For me, everything that happened is not about the medal, but about the color of my skin,” Chiles said.

Chiles had previously claimed in a statement posted on X on August 15 that she was subjected to “racially motivated attacks” from social media users. When Chiles won the bronze medal, it was the first time in Olympic history that three black participants stood on the podium in gymnastics.

“The point is that there were things that led to this position as an athlete and I felt like everything had been taken away from me.”

Chiles then compared the incident to a chapter in her career from 2018, when she had just graduated from high school, made her senior national team debut and was moving closer to her goal of competing in the Tokyo Olympics. But despite the success, Chiles admitted that she “lost love for the sport” that year due to an abusive coach, whom she did not name.

“I felt like I did back in 2018 when I lost the love of the sport. I lost it again. I just felt like there weren't a lot of people that supported me and that I thought could support me in this situation. I felt like I was really left in the dark,” she said.

“I was dealing with a coach who was emotionally and verbally abusing me. I didn't have the opportunity to use my voice or make myself heard,” Chiles said.

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Jordan Chiles flies through the air as she competes on the uneven bars. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

Chiles had previously spoken out about the unnamed, abusive coach on an episode of “Peace of Mind with Taraji” on Facebook Watch in November 2021. Chiles said her previous coach “called her fat. She said I looked like a doughnut” and constantly criticized what she ate. In 2019, Chiles changed coaches to train in Texas at the World Gymnastics Center, which is owned by Simone Biles' family.

But now, still reeling from the loss of her Olympic bronze medal, which she has not returned despite being asked to do so by the IOC, Chiles says the medal is rightfully hers.

“I made history and I will continue to make history. It was something I did rightly. I followed the rules, my coach followed the rules. We did everything that was absolutely and completely right,” Chiles said.

After the Olympics ended in August, USA Today reported that Chiles and the rest of the U.S. Olympic team had “no intention” of returning the medal and continued to appeal the IOC's decision.

Biles told People later that month that she had joined the effort to appeal the decision and have Chiles re-admitted as third-place finisher.

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Jordan Chiles is congratulated by teammate Simone Biles after dramatically winning the bronze medal due to a score change in the women's floor exercise final at the Olympic Games in Paris on August 5, 2024. (Mehmet Murat Onel/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Do we think they followed the proper procedures to reach this verdict? No,” Biles said. “That's why we want justice for Jordan and why we will continue to support her and encourage her.”

The controversy has focused international criticism on the judges who made the scoring. The Center of Arbitration for 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 judges for the result.

“If the FIG had put in place such a mechanism or regulation, much grief would have been avoided,” the CAS ad hoc panel said in a press release. “The panel expresses the hope that the FIG will draw the consequences of this case with respect to these three exceptional athletes and also for other athletes and their support staff in the future so that something like this never happens again.”

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