Jordan Chiles Called Monkey, 'N***er' By Romanian Netizens; May Not Lose Olympic Bronze Medal After All
Jordan Chiles and her family have allegedly been on the receiving end of racist hate messages amid the Team USA gymnast's ongoing Paris Olympics 2024 bronze medal debacle with Romania's Ana Barbosu.
Chiles' mother, Gina Chiles, and older sister, Jazmin Chiles, claimed that the Olympian and their family are being bombarded by "racist" and "disgusting" comments by social media users, including those from Romania.
Jazmin alleged in an Instagram story that her sister has been called "n***er" and "monkey," among many other racist slurs, over the past week.
The controversy stemmed from the women's floor exercise final on Aug. 5. Chiles, 23, originally scored 13.666 and placed fifth in the event, with Barbosu, 18, initially taking the bronze with a score of 13.700.
However, Barbosu lost her spot on the podium after Chiles' coach, Cecile Landi, made an inquiry and successfully got her individual floor exercise final routine score bumped up to 13.766.
Judges agreed with Landi's assessment that Chiles' tour jeté full, which initially only got a difficulty score of 5.800, should have been awarded 5.900.
With her new score boosting her to third place, Chiles got the bronze medal in the event, causing a devastated Barbosu to break down in tears at Paris' Bercy Arena.
However, Chiles was stripped of the bronze medal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) sided with the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and ruled Saturday that Landi submitted the score inquiry four seconds beyond a one-minute time limit.
The International Gymnastics Federation amended the rankings to elevate Barbosu to the third spot in the competition, and the International Olympic Committee announced that it will "reallocate" the bronze medal to the Romanian gymnast.
However, on Sunday, USA Gymnastics said it submitted evidence that proves Chiles deserved the bronze medal, suggesting that she won't have to give it up.
Chiles' mother wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that throughout these developments, her daughter was "being called disgusting things" online.
The racist disgusting comments are still happening in 2024. I'm tired of people who say it no longer exists. My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and a level of sportsmanship that is unmatched...and she's being called disgusting things.
— Gina Chiles (@gina_chiles) August 9, 2024
Meanwhile, Jazmin took to her Instagram Stories to slam the decision to strip her sister of her medal and to declare, "Racism is real, it exists, it is alive and well."
Chiles' older sister also shared alleged screenshots of the hateful DMs she's received on Instagram Stories and X. Her Instagram Story posts have since been deleted, but Atlanta Black Star obtained and published screenshots.
"GET A JOB N***ER!" read one purported message from an Instagram account belonging to @Ascor.Craiova, an association of Orthodox Christian Students from Romania.
"[Shut the f**k up] n***er," read another alleged screenshot of a DM.
Another purported DM screenshot showed a person calling Jazmin "monkey" while arguing that the CAS' ruling was not based on race.
In a follow-up post, Jazmin explained that she was not accusing other gymnasts of being racist or saying that the decision was due to racism but rather calling out racist online comments about her sister and their family.
"The racism that's BEHIND the comments and vulgar and vile comments that are being made toward my sister is what I'm speaking on," Jazmin wrote.
"I'm not calling them young ladies racist nor am I saying racism is the root cause of this. I'm saying it's alive and well because in the last [five] days, she has been called Blacky, a monkey, n***er and so much more!!" she alleged.
Chiles' sister concluded her post by telling haters: "So keep y'all little raggedy comments to y'all self."
The gymnast has since announced a social media break to protect her mental health.
However, Chiles may keep her bronze medal after all as USA Gymnastics announced Sunday that it has submitted new evidence to challenge the CAS' decision to invalidate Chiles' coach's inquiry.
In a statement, USA Gymnastics said it submitted "video evidence" showing that Landi submitted the inquiry "47 seconds after the publishing of the score, within the 1-minute deadline required by FIG [International Gymnastics Federation] rule."
The organization then asked the CAS to revise its ruling and for Chiles' bronze medal to be "reinstated."
