Simone Biles has continued supporting Team USA teammate Jordan Chiles amid the ongoing controversy over the bronze medal in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics.
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‘We’ve been FaceTiming, texting, just being girls,’ Biles told People while promoting her partnership with a haircare brand. ‘I did talk to her on one of the days, and I was like, ‘You know what, Jordan, you have to feel all these feels. Don’t let these emotions stop you. This will be the healthiest way to get all of this out.’
It’s been a difficult August for Chiles, who was awarded the bronze in the floor exercise in Paris on August 5 on the back of an appeal by Team USA coach Cecile Landi, who challenged her athlete’s degree-of-difficulty score. That challenge led to a .1 boost, bumping Chiles to 13.766 – just ahead of Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu’s 13.700.
Chiles celebrated on the podium that night, but the medal has since been reallocated to Barbosu after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided Landi’s appeal.
Biles, who won the silver in the floor on August 5, insists that Chiles isn’t too down. She’s ‘still that girl,’ Biles told People, adding that her performance speaks for itself.
‘We saw what you did,’ Biles says of Chiles. ‘And it’s an unfortunate circumstance because something like this has never happened before and it’s truly a shame, but we wish all three girls could get the medal and unfortunately in gymnastics that’s not the case.
‘Do we think they did the correct procedures to come to this ruling?’ Biles continued. ‘No. That’s really why we want that justice for Jordan and why we’re going to keep supporting her and uplifting her.’
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There are ‘no plans’ currently for Chiles to return her medal, USA officials told USA Today, though the 23-year-old is evidently still reeling from the ordeal.
Chiles briefly swore off social media, although Biles admits to sharing a few funny posts with her.
‘I know she’s not on social media, but some of the funny things I’ve seen, I said, ‘Okay, Jordan, can I send you something that I think you would really like right now?’ Biles told People.
‘And so I’ve sent her little things, and it was like one of them was these four or five girls guarding a medal, and I thought that was the cutest. And then I sent her Flavor Flav’s bronze [medal he made for her] and then I sent her LeBron [James]’s tweet.
‘So just things to uplift her and know that she still has that support all-around.’
Chiles returned to social media on Friday and posted an Instagram story with a screenshot of an X post that read: ‘she’s a 10 but she’s still healing from things she didn’t deserve.’
She has previously called the decision to strip her medal ‘unjust,’ while the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee also told USA Today that there were ‘significant procedural errors’ made by CAS.
According to the CAS, the Americans’ appeal was clocked at one minute and four seconds – greater than the specified window of one minute.
However, USA Gymnastics said they have evidence to back up their claim that the appeal was lodged within the time limit at 47 seconds.
Former Olympian Aly Raisman also called the CAS’ verdict ‘confusing’ and said that an appeal wouldn’t even have been accepted if it was late.
‘There’s a designated trained official. It’s their job to keep the time,’ she 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.’
Biles and Chiles are now prepared to join the Gold Across America Tour, which kicks off next month.
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