"Racism is real, it exists, it is alive, and well"- Jordan Chiles' sister slams judges for stripping her of her bronze medal at Paris Olympics 2024

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Aug 11, 2024 07:33 GMT

Follow Us

Share

1 Discuss

Jordan Chiles is once again in the news after being stripped of her bronze medal that she initially won in floor exercise at the Paris Olympics. The decision was announced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

According to the judgment, CAS maintained the jury panel wrongly called for an inquiry, which upgraded Jordan Chiles score to give her the bronze medal, and penalized the Romanian gymnasts for allegedly going out of bounds.

The Romanian contingent had protested to the CAS and eventually, Ana Barbosu was given the bronze medal.

Chiles' sister Jazmin Chiles has accused the judges of foul play. In a lengthy Instagram post, she wrote [via @jsolovely on Instagram],

"Please keep Jordan [and my family] in your prayers. Racism is real, it exists, it is alive, and well."

According to the latest reports, the CAS accepted the claims from the Romanian contingent, and instructed the FIG [Federation Internationale de Gymnastics] to reinstate the original scores in the floor exercise event, where Jordan Chiles was ranked fifth. However, that wasn't all. Jordan Chiles' sister further wrote in that post,

"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."

"FOUR SECONDS. Her bronze was stripped over 4 seconds of time that would have never needed to happen if the judges did their job. I love you baby sis. And I got your back no matter what."

_________________________________________________________________

The CAS decision that went against Jordan Chiles

Jordan Chiles in action during the Floor Exercise event at the Paris Olympics 2024 [Image Source: Getty]

But what was the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport that revoked the bronze medal awarded to Jordan Chiles?

After the protest lodged by the Romanian authorities, the matter reached the CAS, which eventually declared that the judging panel wrongly declared an inquiry into the matter, which gave Chiles an advantage. They ordered the original scores to be restored and Chiles' medal to be revoked and awarded to Ana Barbosu of Romania.

For the unversed, during the floor exercise event, American gymnast Jordan Chiles performed up to her capabilities. However, her score wasn't enough to land her on the podium.

Chiles was awarded 13.666 by the jury, which made Ana Barbosu of Romania the bronze medalist, while Sabrina Voinea was given the fourth position over the difference in execution, even though the scores of the two gymnasts.

However, when Cecile Landi, the American coach, protested, the jury suddenly penalized the Romanian gymnasts, and increased the score of Jordan Chiles to 13.766, making her the eventual bronze medalist.

The Romanian contingent was aghast at this decision and protested against the same. The country's Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu also announced that he would boycott the closing ceremony.

With her floor exercise bronze being stripped, Jordan Chiles will end Paris Olympics 2024 with a team gold to her name.