Jordan Chiles’ sister, Jazmin Chiles, has no bad blood with the Team Romania gymnasts following the International Olympic Committee’s decision to reallocate the floor exercise bronze medal.
“If you think I’m not very aware of what Sabrina [Maneca-Voinea] and Ana [Barbosu] may be going through as well, you’re WRONG. My beef is not with them,” Jazmin wrote via X on Sunday, August 11. “They are great athletes.”
She continued, “My beef is with whoever is responsible for how this ENTIRE situation has been handled as well as the RACIST individuals that are using this as a way to show true colors.”
The Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS) accepted Team Romania’s inquiry on Saturday, August 10, ruling that Team USA requested an investigation into Jordan’s floor exercise difficulty outside of the allotted time frame and making the previously granted inquiry null and void.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed to uphold the CAS ruling, noting in a Sunday statement that they would “reallocate” the bronze medal — which Jordan, 23, received at the medal ceremony last week — to Romanian gymnast Barbosu, 18.
Jazmin, for her part, took to social media to defend her sister, calling the CAS racist for trying to strip Jordan’s first individual Olympic medal.
“In the history of the Olympics, no one has ever been stripped of their medal for this,” Jazmin wrote via her Instagram Story on Saturday. “There are only two ways you can be stripped of your medal: cheating or doping. She did neither. … Four seconds. Her bronze was stripped over four seconds that would have never needed to happen if the judges did their job.”
After Jazmin’s clapback, she received multiple DMs from people calling her a poor sport.
“The way people think I’m just so confused about the rules has me dead,” Jazmin wrote via X on Sunday. “Like I haven’t been watching my sister flip since she was 2.”
Chiles initially finished behind Barbosu in the floor exercises event finals on Monday, August 5. Immediately after Jordan’s routine, Team USA coaches requested an inquiry into the difficulty of one of Jordan’s jumps. The inquiry was granted, boosting Jordan’s score up to third place behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and Chiles’ teammate Simone Biles. It was the first time that three Black gymnasts topped the podium.
USA Gymnastics noted in a Saturday statement that they were “devastated” by the post-competition investigation.
“The inquiry into the difficulty value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” a statement read. “Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media.”
The statement added, “No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her.”
Jordan is taking a social media break following the controversy.
