Olympic Medalist Has Strong Opinion on Jordan Chiles Not Returning Bronze Medal

USA Gymnastics is still holding out hope its latest appeal will lead to Jordan Chiles getting her Olympic bronze medal back.

Well, at least on paper, because technically, Chiles is still in possession of the physical medal according to Christine Brennan of USA Today. And while most don’t blame Chiles for holding onto it while the legalities of the situation get resolved, former Olympian Laurie Hernandez, who won gold in the team event at the Rio Games in 2016, recently shared a different opinion.

“I can’t imagine how Jordan is feeling,” Hernandez told Vulture . “We know she’s heartbroken. All of this is on a global scale, and it’s a really messy situation. I hate to say it, but it’s very important to the International Olympic Committee that they get that medal back. A lot of people are like, I just wouldn’t give it back. I’m sure this has crossed every single athlete from decades prior before something like this happened. I teeter on “chaotic neutral” and “chaotic good.”

Romanian Ana Barbosu was officially awarded the bronze medal for the floor exercise at the 2024 Paris Olympics as Chiles was dropped from third to fifth place after a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling declared the score inquiry that bumped her up from a 13.666 to 13.766 was invalid because it wasn’t filed in the proper amount of time.

USAG stated it plans to appeal that decision to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which has the power to overrule CAS decisions, but no new information has been released about the status of that case yet.

If Chiles fails to return her medal to the International Olympic Committee, she could face repercussions that include a ban from competing in future Olympic Games and other international competitions.

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