Jordan Chiles Once Revealed the One Thing Keeping Her Going Through Olympic Medal Heartbreak
PALO ALTO, CA - MARCH 07: Jordan Chiles of the UCLA Bruins dances to music during a meet between the UCLA Bruins and the Stanford Cardinal on March 7, 2026 at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, CA. Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire COLLEGE GYMNASTICS: MAR 07 Women s UCLA at Stanford EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260307051
PALO ALTO, CA - MARCH 07: Jordan Chiles of the UCLA Bruins dances to music during a meet between the UCLA Bruins and the Stanford Cardinal on March 7, 2026 at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, CA. Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire COLLEGE GYMNASTICS: MAR 07 Women s UCLA at Stanford EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260307051
Jordan Chiles’ Olympic medal count could’ve been summed up at 3. But as it didn’t, the gymnastics star revealed what helped her through the hard time.
Chiles’ elite performance at the 2024 Paris Games earned her bronze in the women’s floor exercise final. But even after returning the medal due to a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision, her spirit wasn’t broken.
"I'll be able to overcome this. And I’ll be able to look back and say that was just a portion of my story,” she said per the Olympics.com, in the same year. "That’s why I’m here today, to tell my truth. And to tell everybody around me that everything that I did was correct."
Apr 19, 2025; Fort Worth, TX, USA; UCLA Bruins gymnast Jordan Chiles performs on floor exercise during the 2025 Women's National Gymnastics Championship at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Apr 19, 2025; Fort Worth, TX, USA; UCLA Bruins gymnast Jordan Chiles performs on floor exercise during the 2025 Women's National Gymnastics Championship at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Chiles climbed the podium after the US Coach, Cecile Landi, filed a judges' inquiry into her score. Her points went up from 13.666 to 13.733. It pushed her from fifth to third, ahead of Romania's Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Voinea.
But due to the Romanian Team’s appeal, the CAS revealed that Chiles’ coach’s inquiry was submitted four seconds too late. It ultimately restorted Chiles back to fifth position, relocating the bronze to Barbosu.
This incident left Chiles with no Bronze medal. But as she was ready to overcome this heartbreak, the recent update hinted otherwise.
Jordan Chiles Has a Chance to Retrieve Her Bronze
Following the incident, Chiles appealed to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in 2024. And in 2026, they finally acknowledged her appeal, with new evidence provided by the athlete.
“The Federal Supreme Court acknowledged that this new evidence may justify a modification of the contested award,” Switzerland’s highest court stated. “It referred the case back to the CAS for it to re-examine the situation, taking this new evidence into account.”
Per Chiles’ appeal, the CAS refused to take a look at the video evidence that could prove that Landi filed a timely inquiry. But the Swiss Supreme Court agreed that it can “lead to a modification of the contested award in favour of the applicants.”
With newfound hope, Chiles will now look forward to resetting her Olympic medal records.
But do you think she’ll succeed? Let us know in the comments.
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Written by
Deblina Roy