Aly Raisman, who competed for Team USA in women’s gymnastics during the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, reiterated her support for Jordan Chiles amid an ongoing medal controversy and said Chiles “deserves answers.”
“I am so devastated for her,” Raisman told Us Weekly. “I hope that things change and she gets to keep her medal because it’s not right. It’s so disappointing to me because I feel like it goes against the integrity of the sport and of the Olympics.”
After an inquiry during the women’s floor final of the 2024 Olympics earlier this month, Chiles’ score was changed to allow for a bronze medal, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport later ruled that Team USA’s inquiry had allegedly been submitted four seconds after the one-minute deadline.
Chiles throughout the medal controversy. Getty Images
That put Chiles in danger of losing her bronze medal.
Raisman, who added that the saga is “very confusing” and “makes no sense,” also blasted the Court of Arbitration for Sport during an appearance on NBC’s “TODAY” show earlier this month.
“There’s a designated trained official. It’s their job to keep the time,” Raisman told Us Weekly. “They are not allowed to accept the inquiry if it’s not under that minute window. They accepted the inquiry, which means that the person who’s trained to do that, they saw it was under a minute.”
Following the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling, which then led to the International Olympic Committee confirming that Chiles needed to return her bronze medal, USA Gymnastics wrote in a statement that it’d submitted evidence capturing that head coach Cecile Landi submitted the inquiry after 47 seconds.
Still, USA Today Sports reported last week that there are “no plans” for Chiles to return her bronze medal, even after Romania’s Ana Barbosu — moved from third when Chiles’ score was changed — was given a medal.
“I have no words,” Chiles wrote in a statement posted to social media last week, in her first public comments since the controversy started. “This decision feels unjust and comes as a significant blow, not just to me, but to everyone who has championed my journey. To add to the heartbreak, the unprompted racially driven attacks on social media are wrong and extremely hurtful. I’ve poured my heart and soul into this sport and I am so proud to represent my country.”