Aly Raisman Defends Jordan Chiles

Aly Raisman defends Jordan Chiles after she was stripped of her bronze medal in the women's floor final at the Paris Olympics.

What happened?

The controversy began when Chiles' coach, Cecile Landi, filed an inquiry into her score, arguing that Chiles had not deserved a particular point deduction. Chiles was initially awarded the bronze medal after her score was bumped up from 13.666 to 13.766.

Why it matters for Aly Raisman

Raisman told Us Weekly she is "devastated" for Chiles and hopes things change so Chiles can keep her medal. Raisman believes it's not right to take the medal away, as it goes against the integrity of the sport and the Olympics. The Romanian Gymnastics Federation filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled in their favor.

What comes next?

USA Gymnastics submitted "video evidence" to CAS, but it was not considered. Raisman thinks Chiles deserves answers about the evidence CAS has, and it's confusing to her that the medal was taken away. On August 16, Ana Barbosu was awarded the bronze medal in a special ceremony in Bucharest. Raisman explained that there should not have been any doubt about whether Coach Landi's inquiry was made in time. There's a designated trained official to keep the time, and they accepted the inquiry, which means it was under the minute window. Chiles' teammates, Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee, have also expressed their disappointment over the situation. Raisman thinks it's really unfair and unacceptable that Chiles was stripped of her medal. Chiles originally finished in fifth, but nobody has disputed that the score she deserved was the bronze-medal score she eventually got. The judges admitted they made a mistake with the score and raised it, but CAS still ruled against Chiles. Aly Raisman's support for Jordan Chiles shows she stands by her fellow gymnast in this difficult situation.