PARIS — Jordan Chiles is a rarity in Olympic history: an athlete forced to return their medal for reasons other than a doping violation.
The Team USA gymnast placed fifth on floor exercise Monday, but an appeal from her coach improved her to bronze. On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee said the appeal should not be allowed, meaning he would have to return his third-place prize.
Throughout history, dozens of athletes have been forced to retract their accolades, usually because they failed doping tests after stepping off the podium.
The IOC is asking the athletes’ sports teams “for their support in returning medals or diplomas,” the group said in an email to NBC News. “In many cases, this request leads to the return of medals and diplomas. The same applies to medal reallocations of past and recent years.
In fact, Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt quickly – even grudgingly – returned the 4×100-meter relay gold nine years after the 2008 race due to teammate Nesta Carter’s doping violation.
“I’m not happy about it, but it’s just one of those things that happens in life,” he said at the time.
It doesn’t always happen that way, of course. In 2017, the Russian Olympic Committee said 18 athletes were stripped of their medals due to doping violations. The group’s chairman, Alexander Zhukov, said it was “not an easy task”.
Competitors jumping on stage receive their belated prizes with little fanfare. But these days the IOC usually makes a big show of those who spoil their big moment.
At Paris 2024, for example, American figure skater Karen Chen accepted gold late from Beijing’s 2022 Winter Olympics after Russia’s Kamila Valeeva failed a doping test.
After Chile’s bronze knocked Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu off the podium, the country’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolagu said he would refuse to attend the closing ceremony in protest.
This post-festival altercation is not a new phenomenon.
As far back as 1904, at the St. Louis Olympics, American boxer Jack Egan won silver in lightweight boxing and bronze in welterweight. However, according to official website Sports Reference, authorities discovered that he was fighting under an assumed name, which was not uncommon at the time, but against the rules of the Amateur Athletic Union. Egan, real name Frank Floyd, was forced to return his gifts.
In 2008, Olympic officials did not need to ask for Ara Abrahamian’s medal back; He dropped it on the ground.
The Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler won bronze at the Beijing Games, but was unhappy with a referee’s call in the previous round that won him the gold, leaving his medal on the floor and walking out, The Associated News reports. Magazine and others from that time.
The IOC ruled that his actions were “not in the Olympic spirit of respecting his fellow athletes” and the medal was revoked. No other athlete has received it, as the incident was not competition-related, so the category remains blank in the history books.
Likewise, in 1992, Ibrahim Samadov competed for the “unified team” representing the recently fragmented Soviet Union, when he missed out on gold by weight. He refused to accept the bronze around his neck, instead dropping it before reaching out and taking it. He was stripped of the prize and, like Abrahamian, banned from the Olympics for life.
Chiles learned his fate within days, but sometimes these reversals took years.
In Sydney in 2000, Chinese gymnast Dong Fangxiao helped her team win bronze in the team competition. But an investigation 10 years later found Dong had falsified her age to meet Olympic requirements. She was 14, two years too young, and her medal was revoked.
This shows how protracted and litigious these affairs can be. The Chilean case promises to be no different. Hours after the IOC’s ruling, the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee adjourned and said it would appeal on its own.
“We strongly believe that Jordan was rightfully awarded the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the International Gymnastics Federation’s (FIG) initial scoring and the subsequent CAS appeals process that should be addressed,” it said in a statement.
“Under these circumstances, we are committed to continuing the appeal to help Jordan obtain the recognition that Chile deserves,” the US group said. “We remain committed to supporting him as Olympic champion and will continue to work diligently to resolve this matter expeditiously and fairly.”
Following the back-and-forth over Chiles’ location, online outrage erupted, and the athlete said she was taking a break from social media for her mental health.
Six-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman experienced a similar situation during the 2012 Olympics, where she initially placed fourth on the balance beam, but her routine review raised her score to third — beating Romanian athlete Catalina Bonner.
On Monday’s “Today” show, she said: “I’m very tired for Jordan … I think it’s very unfair. It’s very cruel and I don’t think Jordan should have to give his medal back. The IOC has awarded more than one medal before and they have to do it now. I think it should.”
“The judges made a mistake. They held the hearing, and the judges accepted it, meaning they felt it was there at that point,” Raisman added, calling for “a lot more transparency” in how these companies handle their rulings going forward.
