U.S. Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles has raised serious allegations of racism following the revocation of her bronze medal from the Paris 2024 Games. Chiles, who has also been participating in this year’s “Dancing with the Stars,” claims the decision was influenced by racial bias, suggesting there was reluctance to see three Black women on the podium.

The controversy arose after Chiles, a member of Team USA, initially placed fifth in the floor exercise event. A successful appeal by the United States bumped her score up by a tenth of a point, securing her the bronze behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and fellow American Simone Biles.

However, the situation took a turn when Romania’s Ana Barbosu, who was affected by the recalculation, prompted a subsequent appeal by the Romanian athletic commission to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC ultimately ruled that the U.S. appeal had been submitted four seconds past the deadline, rendering it invalid. As a result, Chiles was required to return her medal, which was then awarded to Barbosu.

Days after the event, the IOC concluded that the original United States challenge of the scores was filed four seconds too late and was therefore invalid, meaning Chiles was ordered to return the medal after it was reallocated to the Romanian athlete.

Now, over a year on from the incident last August, Chiles has taken a break from her busy schedule – which has seen her progress to the semifinals of ‘DWTS’ alongside dance partner Ezra Sosa – to reflect on the incident. 

Jordan Chiles made a stunning claim in regard to the decision to rescind her Paris 2024 medal

Chiles, pictured alongside Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade (center) and Simone Biles (left), said people ‘didn’t want to see three beautiful Black women standing on that podium’

Romania’s Ana Barbosu reclaimed the medal on an appeal in the days after the event

Chiles recently asked if she felt she had ‘experienced racism’ in relation to the decision to strip her of the medal -before discussing, what she perceived to be, opposition to an ‘all-Black podium’. 

During an appearance on the ‘Baby, this is Keke Palmer’ podcast, Chiles said: ‘At first, I didn’t think of it in that way until I started almost literally getting racist comments and saying this and saying that and basically telling like people were telling me to kill myself and it got to a really, really tough point.

‘I had to get off of social media for a while. Because it was, you know, it was really hard to even see that, as an athlete, like, let alone an athlete, I’m up, there, yes, it’s an ‘all-Black’ podium, which is very rare, it’s obviously something that people don’t like.

‘As being a woman of color, I started seeing it more. They didn’t want to see that, they didn’t want to see three beautiful Black women standing on that podium. They didn’t want to see the fact that we were just dominating. And I really took that to heart.’

As Barbosu celebrated winning bronze in the women’s floor final at the Games, Chiles and her United States team – led by her coach Cecile Landi – appealed her score from her routine, believing her split leap was not graded properly.

The judges agreed, bumping Chiles up to third and leaving Barbosu in tears and out of the medal positions. Instead, it was Chiles on the podium with Andrade and Biles.

Days later, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation appealed, saying Chiles’ team didn’t contest the score in the allotted one-minute deadline. 

The Court of Arbitration of Sport upheld the appeal and Barbosu was awarded a bronze medal in Bucharest. In the meantime, the Romanian prime minister threatened to boycott the closing ceremony. 

A year on from her ordeals in Paris 2024, Chiles swapped the balance beam for the dance floor

Chiles has reached the semifinals of this year’s Dancing with the Stars with Ezra Sosa 

Chiles, 24, pictured at the Texas Conference For Women last month

The following day, Chiles was ordered to return her bronze medal by the International Olympic Committee. 

Back in March, Chiles claimed that Barbosu’s coach at the Paris Olympics is to blame for the scenes of devastation that she experienced.

In her book ‘I’m That Girl’, she wrote: ‘I was crushed and angry. None of this would have happened if Ana’s coach, who knew that Cecile had submitted an inquiry right after my floor routine, had waited for the inquiry results to come in before allowing Ana to take the podium, holding her flag.

‘That was highly unusual and premature. Our coaches would not have allowed us to do that. Everyone knows you don’t celebrate until after everything is final – and an inquiry for my score had been announced.’

She continued: ‘The fact that the validity of my medal was being questioned after the fact – days after the medal ceremony had taken place – was surprising and outrageous to me. 

‘Once the medal ceremony has happened, that is the final result unless a drug or rules violation is discovered. That had been the case at every single Olympics in history.’

Ironically, Barbosu’s coach that day was Patrick Kiens – who has since been hired by the World Champions Centre in Texas, where Chiles and Simone Biles practice.

Chiles revealed that she had to ‘get off social media’ in wake of the controversy last summer

A year on from her disappointing end to the Paris 2024 games, Chiles will once again be hoping to find herself on the podium as she enters the final stages of DWTS.

The 24-year-old has been one of the standout contestants on this season of the show and impressed judges with a sultry cha-cha-cha on Tuesday night. 

After scoring a 37 points out of a potential 40, she said: ‘When the show first came out I was only four years old, so to be a part of this, honestly, has been such an amazing experience

‘I really want to say thank you to Ezra for everything.’