Jordan Chiles takes a social media break amid bullying from racist trolls

Jordan Chiles recently announced she was stepping away from social media for her mental health amid bullying from racist and misogynistic trolls over her Olympic bronze medal win.

Chiles is in a heartbreaking position after the International Olympic Committee announced it was rescinding her bronze medal win in the floor exercise final. While athletes have occasionally had medals revoked, it’s usually for serious infractions like failing doping tests, lying about one’s age, or showing extremely poor sportsmanship. Hence, Chiles’ case is unprecedented as her medal was revoked because of an alleged scoring error rather than any fault of her own.

Initially, the scoring for the event placed her in fifth. However, her coaches appealed the score, arguing that the difficulty level had been calculated wrong. The judges agreed with Chiles’ coaches and adjusted the difficulty score, which elevated the gymnast to third place.

The scoring error led to a lot of strong emotions. One of the most heartbreaking moments of the Olympics was when the Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu realized that the scores had changed. Upon initially scoring in third place, she held her flag up in celebration, but after seeing the last-second score changes, she instantly dropped the flag and clutched her chest in devastation. The heartbreaking scene demonstrated just how poorly the judges handled the situation.

Now, Chiles is facing a similar devastating blow after the IOC ruled that she had to return her medal. Even though the scoring adjustment was deemed correct, Bărbosu’s coaches appealed the decision, claiming the inquiry into the difficulty score came seconds too late. On top of losing her medal in such a devastating manner, Chiles has been experiencing bullying online.

Jordan Chiles faces ignorant attacks from online trolls

Following the IOC’s shocking decision to rescind her medal and issue it to Bărbosu, Chiles released a simple statement on her Instagram Story, stating she was taking a break from all social media for her mental health. Even before she lost her medal, she was attacked by online trolls who labeled her a cheater and claimed that she displayed poor sportsmanship. Sadly, it seems to repeat what happened to Simone Biles after she withdrew from several events during the Tokyo Olympics. A bunch of people who knew absolutely nothing about gymnastics decided to publicly attack Biles. Of course, the real reason there was so much outrage is that people were jumping at the opportunity to be racist and misogynistic.

Now, the same thing is happening to Chiles. USA Gymnastics and Chiles’ mother and sister have issued public statements slamming the horrific racist attacks levied at the gymnast. Her mother, Gina Chiles, took to X to decry the racism, expressing her indignance that some people really try to claim racism doesn’t exist anymore, even as her daughter, an Olympic athlete with unparalleled sportsmanship, is facing disgusting racist attacks.

Chiles’ sister, Jazmin Chiles, also spoke out, saying racism may have even played a role in the rescinding of the medal. She pointed out that the situation simply doesn’t make sense. Why is Chiles being punished for the fact that judges didn’t do their jobs correctly? Commentator Wayne DuPree shared some of the racist comments and messages Jazmin and Chiles are receiving, including comments calling them “delusional,” mocking them with taunts like “cry me a river,” and utilizing racial slurs.

USA Gymnastics also released a statement, stating that it had already submitted another appeal with evidence to demand the Court of Arbitration for Sport reinstate Chiles’ medal. In an earlier statement, the organization slammed the “consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks” against Chiles on social media. USA Gymnastics wrote, “No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support, or instigate them.”

Both Chiles and Bărbosu are victims of an egregious error on the part of the Olympic judges, and neither should be receiving hatred or blame for a situation that is entirely out of their hands. One can’t even imagine what Chiles must be feeling right now, to have a medal she worked her entire life for taken from her in a way that most believe is unfair. Yet, racist and sexist trolls just can’t resist adding to her pain, and now she has to face the even more unimaginable circumstances of a bunch of people with no humanity laughing and taunting her over her lost medal.

While Chiles also has so many people speaking out in support of her and calling for the reinstatement of her medal, the hatred she has faced shows how little things have changed for female athletes over the years. The Olympics is supposed to be about celebrating the greatest athletes in the world but time and time again, it becomes all about tearing down successful women—especially Black women—raising the question of when society will finally try to break the cycle.