Will Chiles Get to Keep the Bronze?

After having her bronze medal stripped from her, U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles, has been left in a state on wonder. Will she or won’t she get to keep her individual medal?

It has been revealed that the change is happening due to an inquiry being submitted by Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, four seconds after the one-minute deadline. According to CNN Sports, “The initial inquiry made by the USA over Chiles’ score in last Monday’s gymnastics floor exercise final was filed after the one-minute deadline.”

It was announced on Sunday by the International Olympic Committee, IOC, that Chiles’ medal would be given to Romanian gymnast Ana Bǎrbosu. The stripping from Chiles and reinstating to Bǎrbosu comes from Chiles’ original score before the allegedly late inquiry being 13.666 with Bǎrbosu’s being 13.700.

This was the only medal that Chiles won at this year’s Olympics as an individual. Her gold medal came from a team win.

Chiles chose to remove herself from her social media platforms during this time, stating that she is “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you,” according to an Instagram story.

Chiles’ sister thinks the actions come from a place of racism and hatred towards her sister for the color of her skin.

“Racism is real, it exists, it is alive and well,” Jazmin Chiles stated via Instagram stories according to People. “They have officially, 5 days later, stripped her of one of her medals. Not because she didn’t win, not because she was drugged, not because she stepped out of bounds, not because she wasn’t good enough. But because the judges failed to give her difficulty and forced an inquiry to be made.”

Her teammates have shown their love and support for Chiles during this difficult time.

“This is awful and I’m gutted for Jordan,” Suni Lee said in an Instagram post according to NPR. “All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?? Completely unacceptable.”

Bǎrbosu broke her silence regarding the situation and offered her well wishes to both Chiles and ‘Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who placed fifth and fourth places for the floor exercise.

“Sabrina, Jordan, my thoughts are with you. I know what you are feeling because I’ve been through the same. But I know you’ll come back stronger,” Bǎrbosu stated according to People. “I hope from deep of my heart that at the next Olympics, all three of us will share (the) same podium. This is my true dream!”

In the midst of this situation, there has been claims that the inquiry actually wasn’t submitted late. According to Yahoo! Sports, USA Gymnastics has made a claim that there is  time-stamped video footage to prove the inquiry wasn’t submitted after the one-minute time limit.

A tweet made by USA Gymnastics states, “USA Gymnastics has submitted additional evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport,” which included an attachment of their statement.

“USA Gymnastics on Sunday formally submitted a letter and video evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, conclusively establishing that Head Coach Cecile Landi’s request to file an inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after the publishing of the score, within the 1-minute deadline required by FIG rule,” said the statement. “In the letter, USA Gymnastics requests that the CAS ruling be revised and Chiles’ bronze-medal score of 13.766 reinstated.”

Regardless of what happens in the end, Chiles is still an Olympic medalist and nothing can take that away from her. Her talent got her this far and won’t leave her here. She’ll continue to soar, do well in her craft, and take home even more medals.

By Cierra Lemott, Columbia College Chicago Alumni

Instagram: @cece.kodak / @kodakscamera

X: @LemottCierra

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