Jordan Chiles had a nightmare at the Paris Olympics. On August 5, the American thought she would win the bronze medal in the individual gymnastics floor event. She even made it to the podium with Brazilian Rebeca Andrade and her compatriot Simone Biles.
After a protest, Jordan Chiles had overtaken Romanian Ana Barbosu to complete the podium. But this was cancelled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), ruling that the appeal had reached the jury four seconds after the regulation time limit, set at one minute. Jordan Chiles was forced to return her medal and since then, the American has been crying foul.
“The biggest thing that was taken away from me was the recognition of who I was.”
More than a month later, Jordan Chiles still hasn’t digested it. “I followed the rules. My coach followed the rules. We did everything that was absolutely right,” said the gymnast, who feels she was left “in the dark” in this affair. “The biggest thing that was taken away from me was the recognition of who I was. Not just my sport, but the person that I am.”
Invited to an event organized by Forbes this Wednesday, the 23-year-old athlete had trouble containing her emotion. This initial podium was historic since it was occupied for the first time by three black women, in gymnastics. “It’s not about the medal. It’s about the color of my skin,” she said again.
Jordan Chiles has had some dark times with this episode, like in 2018 when she faced a verbally abusive coach. “And I felt like everything was stripped away. I felt like I was back in 2018 when I had lost the love of the sport. I lost it again,” Chiles concluded.
- RMC Sport
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