Jordan Chiles Gives First Interview After Being Stripped of Olympic Bronze Medal: ‘My Heart Was Broken’

• Jordan Chiles was interviewed for the first time about being stripped of her Olympic bronze medal
• The gymnast said she’s struggled with the decision, and feels it had more to do with her “skin color” than merit
• Chiles said she lost her “love of the sport” after the ruling

Jordan Chiles was emotional talking about her Paris Olympics experience in her first interview since she was stripped of her bronze medal.

The 23-year-old Olympian spoke candidly at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit on Wednesday, Sept. 11, where she was asked about the controversial decision to strip her of the bronze medal in the floor exercise final and award it to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu.

“The biggest thing that was taken from me was that it was the recognition of who I was. Not just my sport, but the person I am,” Chiles said. “To me, everything that has gone on is not about the medal, it’s about my skin color.”

Chiles said she felt “like everything has been stripped” amid the complicated back-and-forth of petitions and appeals between the Romanian and American Olympic committees, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

“I felt like when I was back in 2018 where I did lose the love of the sport, I lost it again,” Chiles revealed, adding, “I felt like I was really left in the dark.”

The gymnast said the ordeal brought her back to her 2018 situation “of dealing with a coach who emotionally and verbally abused me,” which led to Chiles struggling to stand up for herself.

“I didn’t have the ability to use my voice or be heard, and that is one thing that I feel like now in this instance of being in this situation, that I wasn’t able to be heard,” she continued at the summit.

“I made history and I’ll always continue to make history and something that I rightfully did. I followed the rules, my coach followed the rules,” Chiles said, referring to the claim that her coach Cecile Landi was four seconds late submitting the appeal that resulted in Chiles’ score change to come in third place, which USA Gymnastics has denied and said they have proof it was in time.

“So having being left in the dark is something that I feel like they just took that all away and was trying to just put the name gymnastics in front of it,” Chiles added.

Fans were upset with CAS’ decision to strip Chiles of the medal, but the gymnast admitted it was “really hard to truly see all the love and support” while she was navigating her emotions regarding the ruling.

“I can feel it now, but at first it was really hard to really take that in because of how badly my heart was broken,” Chiles shared.

“Everything did go so quickly. But I do appreciate every single person that has been able to come out and say what they needed to say, whether it was through social media, whether it was through news outlets, whether it was through just people texting me. I do appreciate it so much and I don’t think I could be where I am right now sitting up here talking to everybody. If it wasn’t for everyone being right by my side and really recognizing what the right thing is,” she concluded.