Jordan Chiles seeks “my peace” and “my justice” after dispute over bronze medal
In her first public comments since being stripped of a bronze medal she appeared to rightfully win, Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles said Wednesday she was still looking for “justice” and “peace.”
Chiles said at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit that the situation surrounding the controversial medal had taken a heavy emotional toll on her.
“The worst thing that was taken from me,” Chiles said, her voice choked with excitement, which made her pause for 14 seconds to compose herself, “was the realization of who I was, not just my sport, but the person I am.”
Chiles said she has had to endure racist criticism online in the wake of this international conflict, often alone.
“At this point, it’s not really about the medal, it’s about my peace and justice,” the 23-year-old said at the conference. “It’s about the color of my skin. It’s about the fact that I felt like there weren’t a lot of people supporting me that I thought could support me.”
Chiles originally placed fifth on the floor exercise before coach Cecile Landi noticed that the judges had made an error in assessing the difficulty of an element of her routine.
After this scoring error was corrected, Chiles jumped to third place and the bronze medal.
Romanian sports authorities protested loudly, and on the final day of the Games, the IOC announced that it would accept the ruling of an International Court of Arbitration for Sport, which had found that Landis’ protest came 64 seconds after the results were announced.
The time limit for such an action is one minute.
The bronze medal went to 18-year-old Romanian Ana Bărbosu.
Despite this setback, Chiles can still look back on a team gold medal in Paris and a bronze medal she won three years earlier in Tokyo.
Chiles, whose father is black and whose mother is Latina, said she has been doing her best to deal with online hate since the controversy erupted.
“I am a two-time Olympic champion, I am a two-time Olympian, I am a world champion. I am all of that,” Chiles said.
“No matter what happens, these awards will always be with me and I will continue to shine as brightly as I do because the star will never fade.”
