Cierra Lemott 
UPDATE:
The details regarding the Jordan Chiles incident and the Olympic bronze medal seem to be changing by the hour. Chiles recently released a statement expressing her point of view on the situation.
Previously published…
Jordan Chiles is the first Olympian to have a medal stripped from her since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. She has been the only gymnast in history to have a medal taken from her for reasons outside of “age falsification or failed drug tests,” according to NBC News.
Chiles was originally awarded bronze in the floor exercise at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games following an appeal that was submitted by her coach, Cecile Landi. This appeal was made to challenge the scores given by judges who weren’t correctly assessing the difficulty level of her skills performed. This moved her from fifth to third place but the decision was ultimately reversed.
According to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the appeal was submitted after the one-minute deadline. Following this, it was decided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that the bronze would be awarded to Ana Bardosu and not Chiles.
There are suspicions that the results were rigged as someone a part of the CAS has ties to Romania and its government.
“The presiding arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel that stripped Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal in the women’s floor final, handing it to a Romanian gymnast on appeal, has over a decade of ties to the Romania government,” according to MSN.
Others have chimed in on the situation, offering their support to Chiles. Flavor Flav went as far as creating a bronze clock chain for Chiles. Chiles’ mother, Gina Chiles, thanked the rapper via X for the gift.
“Thank you. Means the world.” Gina Chiles said in a tweet. “She’s not on socials right now, as you can imagine. I’ll share it with her,” she said, concluding the message with a hand-heart emoji.
Jordan, keep your head up. At the end of the day, you’re still an Olympic gold medalist.
By Cierra Lemott, Columbia College Chicago Alumni
Instagram: @cece.kodak / @kodakscamera
X: @LemottCierra
True Star Media’s content is made possible thanks to donors like you. By donating at truestarmedia.org/donate you are helping to empower young creators and transform lives.
