Jordan Chiles found out that she won the first individual Olympic medal of her career, a bronze on floor, after a last-second inquiry with the judges bumped up her final score.
Jordan Chiles earned her first individual Olympics medal in dramatic fashion.
The Olympian delivered a powerhouse routine in the floor exercise final on Monday, the very last event for women's gymnastics at the Paris Olympics.
Simone Biles performed first of the two Americans in competition on the floor. Her stellar routine, minus some deductions for stepping out of bounds twice, earned her a score of 14.133. That was enough to help Biles capture her 11th Olympic medal, further cementing her position as the greatest American gymnast of all time.
By the time Chiles took to the floor, Biles was in second behind Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and Romanians Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca were in third and fourth.
Chiles was last in rotation the rotation. Hoping to secure a spot next to Biles on the podium, she performed to a medley of Beyoncé's music and earned a score of 13.666 that put her in fifth position.
Almost immediately, her coaches put in an inquiry with the judges about the difficulty component of her score. NBC’s John Roethlisberger explained on the broadcast, Chiles initially did not receive credit for an element called a tour jete full, a split leap followed by a full spin on the way down.
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A brief moment of tension filled the arena as the competitors waited for a ruling.
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Chiles didn't have to wait long. The judges boosted the American's score by 0.1 for a new total of 13.766, enough to knock Barbosu off the podium.
This is everything. pic.twitter.com/FrXz7wWtQg
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 5, 2024
Chiles and Biles shared the podium, flanking Andrade, one of their strongest competitors of these Games.
"[My coaches] had told me what they did. Let's see what [the judges] come back with. It can go up or go down," Chiles said after getting the medal.
Since the 2020 Olympics, Chiles has been a fan (and celebrity) favorite.
During the team final, performing her usual floor routine to a medley of Beyoncé songs, Chiles scored a 13.966 to put the United States on the brink of winning the women's gymnastics team final.
Leading up to the Olympics, Chiles wore a leotard that she was inspired to design after seeing an outfit Beyoncé wore during her world tour. Prior to the start of the Olympics, the singer sent Chiles an autographed vinyl with a handwritten message, calling the gymnast her "twin."
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion gave Chiles some major kudos during her balance beam routine en route to Team USA winning gold in the women’s team event on Tuesday.
“You Killing it my girl,” Megan Thee Stallion took to her Instagram story.
Over the past month, Chiles has been recognized by many stars in different walks of life, including Beyoncé and Michael Jordan.
Chiles has also hinted she'll be making a big "announcement" about her future on Tuesday, Aug. 6 after she finishes competing in Paris and it may involve returning to her alma mater UCLA and the gymnastics team here, according to olympics.com.
"I know floor is coming up. That's my main focus, but you never know. You never know. I might have the four letters [UCLA] across my chest. You might see me in '28," Chiles told olympics.com. "As of right now, I think my main focus is kind of just finishing floor because this is my first time ever being in an event final. I'm really excited about that.
Here are Team USA women's gymnastics medals
- All-around: Simone Biles (gold) and Suni Lee (bronze)
- Vault: Simone Biles (gold) and Jade Carey (bronze)
- Uneven bars: Suni Lee (bronze)
- Floor exercise: Simone Biles (silver) and Jordan Chiles (bronze)
