Jordan Chiles has revealed she still has her bronze medal from the Paris Olympics – despite being ordered to return it seven months ago.
The Team USA gymnastics star was controversially stripped of her individual bronze in the floor exercise at last summer’s Games following a dispute involving Romania’s Ana Barbosu.
After initially coming in fifth place, a United States appeal raised Chiles’ marks by one-tenth to move her up to third behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and teammate Simone Biles.
Yet that changed when the Romanian athletic commission later filed an appeal of their own to the International Olympic Committee over the scores that dropped Barbosu from the medal stand.
Days after the event, the IOC concluded that the original United States challenge of the scores was filed four seconds too late and was therefore invalid, meaning Chiles was ordered to return the medal after it was reallocated to the Romanian athlete.
However, seven months on from that ruling in August, the 23-year-old claims she is still in possession of her bronze.
Jordan Chiles claims she is still in possession of her bronze medal from the Paris Olympics
Chiles was ordered to return the medal back in August after losing an appeal over her triumph
She told Candace Parker on the ex-WNBA star’s ‘Trophy Room’ podcast: It’s still a bronze in my head, it’s still a bronze in my heart. I still have the medal if anybody is asking.
‘I still have it and I can’t really continue on my life with having something so small but so big in the world carry in my heart for the rest of my life. I can’t let that happen.
‘So now I’m enjoying life. I’m at UCLA, I’m doing everything I can. I get to enjoy the support now.’
Chiles concluded by insisting she will ‘continue to fight’ while thanking her fans for helping her to ‘enjoy being able to stand on my own two feet and be proud of what I’ve accomplished.’
Earlier this month she blamed Barbosu’s coach for the scenes of devastation at last year’s Olympics which sparked a feud that is still ongoing now.
The two-time Olympic medalist is still contesting the verdict through the courts with the backing of US Gymnastics. But she reflected on the saga so far in her new book ‘I’m That Girl’.
She wrote: ‘I was crushed and angry. None of this would have happened if Ana’s coach, who knew that Cecile had submitted an inquiry right after my floor routine, had waited for the inquiry results to come in before allowing Ana to take the podium, holding her flag.
The 23-year-old was highly emotional after her initial bronze medal win out in Paris
‘That was highly unusual and premature. Our coaches would not have allowed us to do that.
‘Everyone knows you don’t celebrate until after everything is final – and an inquiry for my score had been announced.’
She continued: ‘The fact that the validity of my medal was being questioned after the fact – days after the medal ceremony had taken place – was surprising and outrageous to me.
‘Once the medal ceremony has happened, that is the final result unless a drug or rules violation is discovered. That had been the case at every single Olympics in history.’
