PORTLAND, Ore. — Olympic gymnast and Vancouver native Jordan Chiles is sharing what it's been like after losing her bronze medal in Paris over the summer. On Monday, she opened up about her experience in her first live TV interview on TODAY.
"It's been really, really hard to comprehend everything that's been happening. I've been able to finally now feel comfortable, in a way, to talk about what has been happening," Chiles told Hoda Kotb.
In the final competition of the floor exercise on Aug. 5, Chiles was bumped up to third place from fifth after her coach filed an inquiry about the difficulty component of her score. But she was later stripped of her bronze medal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided the appeal by Chiles' coach that had boosted her to third place. CAS ruled that the appeal came four seconds after the one-minute deadline for score adjustments.
Chile's medal was revoked and awarded to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, who had originally placed third.
"I can't control anything that's happening on the outside. I can only control what my truth is," Chiles said. "I know what the truth is, and I know that we were right in everything that we were doing."
When asked what happened to the physical medal, Chiles revealed to Kotb that she still has it. Borbosu received a bronze medal in August, and remains the official recipient.
In September, Chiles' lawyers and USA Gymnastics filed an appeal with the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, requesting that it overturn the CAS' decision and that the case be reopened. TODAY reached out to the supreme court, which declined to comment. TODAY also contacted CAS, but didn't hear back immediately.
Chiles is grateful for her fans and everyone who has shown her support over the past few months.
"To everyone that's been supporting me and lifting me up in millions of different ways, I say thank you all the time," she said.
Chiles said she hasn't decided yet on whether she'll try to compete at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
"L.A. is in and out of my mind. Right now I'm just trying to take in what's happened from Paris, and take (it) day by day," she said.
