Jordan Chiles has given her first TV interview after being stripped of her bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In her first interview since the incident, Chiles opened up to Today about the loss, and how she's moving forward. "It's been really, really hard just to comprehend everything that's been happening," Chiles told Today. "I've been able to finally now feel comfortable in a way to talk about what has been happening."
During her conversation with Hoda Kotb, which aired on Monday, Nov. 11, Chiles emotionally revealed she'd been experiencing "a difficult time" since the Olympic ruling.
Back in August, Chiles was awarded third place in the women's final floor competition with a score of 13.766. Having initially placed fifth after scoring 13.666, Chiles' coach "filed an inquiry into the calculation of her difficulty score," which was successful, moving Chiles up to third, NBC reported at the time.
However, days later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that Chiles' coach had filed their inquiry too late, and reinstated the original scores. Chiles lost her Bronze medal, and placed behind Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Manexa-Voinea.
In September, Chiles' lawyers filed an appeal with the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland to overturn the decision to remove the Team USA athlete's bronze medal. The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) supports Chiles' decision to appeal.
Discussing her next steps, Chiles told Today, "The support that's been around me that I've been like, 'OK, I can't control anything that's happening on the outside, 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.'"
Regardless of the outcome of her latest legal challenge, Chiles is proud of herself for speaking out about the difficulties she's faced. "I'll be able to look back and say, you know what, 'That was just a portion of my story, but it's the truth,'" She explained. "And that's why I'm here today, is to tell my truth."
The press release announcing Chiles' action explained, "This appeal is about much more than the bronze medal. Chiles is pursuing her case to encourage the entire Olympic community to take steps to ensure that future Olympians do not face a similar ordeal. Chiles believes in competing fairly and with integrity and holding these organizations to the standards and rules that were established to ensure fairness."
