Jordan Chiles on ongoing appeal against losing medal: "I can only control what my truth is"
Jordan Chiles remains optimistic she will eventually be declared the bronze medallist in the women's floor exercise final at Paris 2024.
Speaking on NBC's TODAY Show on Monday (11 November), the U.S. artistic gymnast addressed her ongoing appeal against a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision which dropped her from third to fifth in the final standings, saying: "I can only control what my truth is, and I know what the truth is, and I know that we were right in everything that we were doing."
Chiles was awarded a score of 13.666 for her routine at the Bercy Arena, but her coaches filed a judges' inquiry into her score, which was subsequently increased to 13.733, placing her third ahead of Romania's Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Voinea.
However, later appeals filed by the Romanian team resulted in a finding by CAS that Chiles' inquiry had been submitted four seconds too late. Barbosu was awarded her bronze medal in a standalone ceremony in Romania, while Chiles said she still has the one originally handed out to her at the victory ceremony in Paris.
In September, Chiles and Team USA appealed the CAS ruling to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, the only body able to review CAS decisions on restricted procedural grounds.
"I can’t control anything that’s happening on the outside," Chiles said on the TODAY Show of the ongoing process – her first television interview on the subject.
"Everything was in the time that it needed to be, and for them to come back and say that it was four seconds late, when we’ve had proof, we’ve had everything that really can show that everything was right."
That is one of the grounds on which Chiles is appealing the CAS decision, as her legal team believes CAS did not properly consider video evidence purportedly showing Chiles' inquiry being submitted on time. The other relates to an alleged conflict of interest held by the chair of the CAS panel hearing her case. The CAS has made no comment on the appeal to the Swiss federal tribunal.
Chiles added on Monday: ""I'll be able to overcome this, and I’ll be able to look back and say, you know what, that was just a portion of my story.
"That’s why I’m here today, is to tell my truth and to tell everybody around me that everything that I did was correct.
"That 13.766 was given to me, that bronze medal was given to me, in the right way."
The original result on the day provided one of the images of the Olympic Games, with Chiles posing on a gymnastics podium featuring three Black athletes, alongside Brazil's Rebeca Andrade taking gold and her U.S. teammate Simone Biles silver.