Simone Biles has continued to support her US teammate Jordan Chiles amid the ongoing controversy over her floor exercise bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
“We’ve been FaceTiming, texting, just being girls,” Biles said. People While promoting her partnership with a hair care brand, she said: “I was talking to her one day and I was like, ‘You know what, Jordan, you have to feel all these emotions. Don’t let these emotions hold you back. This is going to be the healthiest way to get all this out.'”
It’s been a tough August for Chiles, who was awarded bronze on the floor exercise in Paris on Aug. 5 thanks to an appeal by U.S. team coach Cecile Landi, who questioned her athlete’s difficulty rating. That appeal resulted in a 0.1 increase, bringing Chiles’ score to 13.766, just ahead of Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu’s 13.700.
Chiles celebrated on the podium that night, but the medal was reassigned to Barbosu after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned Landi’s appeal.
Biles, who won the silver medal on floor on Aug. 5, insists Chiles isn’t too down. “She’s still that girl,” Biles told People, adding that her performance speaks for itself.
Simone Biles has continued to support her teammate Jordan Chiles (right) amid the controversy
Romanian gymnast Ana Maria Barbosu poses with her Olympic bronze medal
“We saw what you did,” Biles says of Chiles. “It’s an unfortunate circumstance because something like that has never happened before and it’s really a shame, but we wish all three girls could medal and unfortunately in gymnastics that’s not the case.”
“Do we believe that they followed the correct procedures in reaching this verdict?” Biles continued. “No. That’s why we want justice for Jordan and that’s why we’re going to continue to support her and encourage her.”
There are “no plans” at this time for Chiles to return her medal, U.S. officials told USA Today, though the 23-year-old is evidently still recovering from the ordeal.
Chiles briefly left social media, though Biles admits to sharing some funny posts with her.
“I know she’s not on social media, but some of the funny stuff I’ve seen has made me think, ‘Okay, Jordan, can I send you something I think you’d really like right now?'” Biles told People.
“And then I sent him stuff, and one of them was of these four or five girls guarding a medal, and I thought that was the cutest thing. And then I sent him Flavor Flav’s bronze medal (that he made for her) and then I sent him LeBron’s (James) tweet.
“Just things to cheer her up and let her know that she still has that support from everyone.”
Team USA’s Jordan Chiles looks on with his bronze medal on August 5 in Paris
Chiles returned to social media on Friday, posting an Instagram Story with a screenshot of a post from X that read, “she’s a 10 but she’s still reeling from things she didn’t deserve.”
She previously called the decision to strip her of her medal “unfair,” while the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee also told USA Today there were “significant procedural errors” made by CAS.
According to the CAS, the Americans’ appeal lasted one minute and four seconds, longer than the one-minute deadline.
However, USA Gymnastics said it has evidence to support its claim that the appeal was filed within the 47-second time limit.
Former Olympian Aly Raisman also called the CAS verdict “confusing” and said an appeal would not even have been accepted if it had come late.
“There is a designated trained officer. Their job is to keep track of the time,” she told Us Weekly. “They are not allowed to accept the query if it’s not done within a minute. They accepted the query, which means the person who is trained to do that saw it done in less than a minute.”
Biles and Chiles are now set to join the Gold Across America Tour, which kicks off next month.
