In case you haven’t been following, Jordan Chiles competed in the individual floor exercise final last week for the U.S. Olympics gymnastics team, where she originally finished in fifth place with a score of 13.666. However, her coach submitted an inquiry claiming that Chiles’ difficulty score was lower than it should have been, and the judges agreed they had made a mistake and raised her final score to 13.766, which leapfrogged Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu and won Chiles the Bronze medal—her first individual Olympic medal.
Then, though, the Romanian team filed an appeal, claiming that Chiles’ coach made the inquiry too late (Olympics rules only give coaches one minute to file an inquiry after scores are calculated). It was determined that the inquiry was made one minute and four seconds after scoring, so Chiles was stripped of her Bronze, and it was given back to Barbosu. Now, the U.S. team claims to have video evidence that the inquiry was, in fact, started in time. The whole situation is messy and very unfortunate for so many amazing athletes.
But online, things are even worse. Chiles has removed herself from social media in the aftermath of the scandal, saying she needs a break to focus on her mental health. In her absence, her mom is speaking out online, calling out “disgusting” racism that’s been aimed at her daughter.
Gina Chiles posted on X (formerly Twitter) this week to defend her daughter and call out bad actors online.
“The racist disgusting comments are still happening in 2024. I’m tired of people who say it no longer exists,” she wrote. “My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and a level of sportsmanship that is unmatched…and she’s being called disgusting things.”
Gina didn’t expand or specify what her daughter has been called, but this isn’t the first comment she’s made to this effect. On Aug. 7, she posted, “Y’all done being vile in these Twitter streets yet?”
Much of the hate that Chiles is facing online comes from rumors that she cheated to get her Bronze medal, but that’s simply not the case. Judging inquiries are a normal part of the Olympics. Her coach, Cecile Landi, has defended her online.
“Racism is real, it exists, it is alive and well,” Jazmin Chiles said of her sister in a post on her Instagram stories over the weekend.
“They have officially, five 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.”
On Friday, Jordan Chiles announced on Instagram that she would be removing herself from social media for her mental health.
“Jordan won this bronze medal and didn’t steal anything from anyone,” Landi wrote in response to one commenter. “I simply did my job and fought for my athlete.”
