Simone Biles opened up about how her USA teammate, Jordan Chiles, has been coping in the aftermath of one of the biggest controversies at the 2024 Paris Games this past summer.
Chiles was stripped of her bronze medal in the women’s gymnastics floor final following a protest lodged by two Romanian gymnasts on Aug. 10. After reviewing the USA coaches’ appeal on the day of the final, the International Olympic committee made the widely disputed decision to give Chiles’s bronze medal to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu instead.
Biles recently spoke to PEOPLE about how she’s continued to support Chiles during this difficult time.
“We’ve been FaceTiming, texting, just being girls,” Biles said. “I did talk to her on one of the days, and I was like, ‘You know what, Jordan, you have to feel all these feels. Don’t let these emotions stop you. This will be the healthiest way to get all of this out.’
“I know she’s not on social media, but some of the funny things I’ve seen, I said, ‘Okay, Jordan, can I send you something that I think you would really like right now?’ And so I’ve sent her little things, and it was like one of them was these four or five girls guarding a medal, and I thought that was the cutest. And then I sent her Flavor Flav’s bronze [medal he made for her] and then I sent her LeBron’s tweet.”
The 11-time Olympic medalist added that she didn’t think the “correct procedures” were followed leading up to the ruling and that she, like the rest of USA gymnastics, wants “justice” for Chiles.
Chiles’s bronze would have been her first individual Olympic medal of her career. The 23-year-old helped the U.S. women’s gymnastics squad win the gold medal in the team finals earlier in the Games.
“I am now confronted with one of the most challenging moments of my career,” Chiles said in a statement on Aug. 15. “Believe me when I say I have had many. I will approach this challenge as I have others – and will make every effort to ensure that justice is done. I believe that at the end of this journey, the people in control will do the right thing.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Simone Biles Reveals Sweet Ways She’s Supported Jordan Chiles Amid Medal Controversy.
