Jordan Chiles breaks silence after being stripped of Olympic medal

WASHINGTON — American gymnast Jordan Chiles has responded publicly for the first time after being asked to return the bronze medal she was awarded in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics.

The Court of Arbitration ruled she should be stripped of the bronze medal because her coaches' request for a score adjustment, which was granted during the competition, came seconds too late. 

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Chiles said Thursday she was "overwhelmed" by the amount of support she has received over the past few days but also devastated. 

Jordan Chiles' full statement can be read below: 

"I am overwhelmed by the love I have received over the past few days. I am also incredibly grateful to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, USAG, and the USOPC for their unwavering support during this difficult time. While celebrating my Olympic accomplishments, I heard the devastating news that my bronze medal had been stripped away. I had confidence in the appeal brought by USAG, who gave conclusive evidence that my score followed all the rules. This appeal was unsuccessful.

I have no words. This decision 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. I've poured my heart and soul into this sport and I am so proud to represent my culture and my country.

I will never waver from my values of competing with integrity, striving for excellence, upholding the values of sportsmanship and the rules that dictate fairness. I have taken pride in cheering on everyone regardless of team or country. Finding joy again has been a culture shift and I love seeing others embrace it. I feel like I have given everyone permission to be authentic to who they are.

I am now confronted with one of the most challenging moments of my career. Believe me when I say I have had many. I will approach this 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."

Chiles was stripped of the bronze medal in floor exercise after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided an on-floor appeal by Chiles' coach that vaulted her to third, saying the appeal came 4 seconds beyond the 1-minute time limit for scoring inquiries.

Chile was initially in fifth place in the final competition, then an adjusted score after the appeal shot Chiles up two places to bronze. 

The last-minute score change outraged the Romanian delegation because it bumped Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu out of medal contention. The delegation appealed to CAS, a governing body that handles high-level judging disputes. When the court came back with their decision, they found that because the U.S. had filed their appeal four seconds over the one-minute timeframe to request a second look, the readjusted score was invalid. 

The International Gymnastics Federation, which oversees the sport during the Olympics, subsequently revoked Chiles' medal and awarded it to the Romanian athlete who had originally placed third. 

An appeal by USA Gymnastics was shot down by the federation earlier this week. 

USA Gymnastics disputed the timing, saying Sunday that the agency submitted video evidence to CAS that showed Team USA coach Cecile Landi first appealed 13 seconds before the deadline.

The dispute over such minute details sets up what could be a months- or years-long legal battle over the gymnastics scores.

Chiles' teammates have been vocal in their support of her, and at least one has placed blame on the judges for allowing the on-the-floor appeal that led to the upset. 

Suni Lee posted to her Instagram story that she was "gutted" by the situation, and blamed the competition's judges for allowing ambiguity to cloud the results. 

"All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges??" Lee wrote. "Completely unacceptable. This is awful and I'm gutted for Jordan. I got your back forever Jo. U have all my flowers and you will ALWAYS be an Olympic champion." 

Chiles posted on her Instagram Saturday, shortly before the court of arbitration made its ruling public, that she would be taking a break from social media. Her public statement Thursday has been the first post since then from the 23-year-old.