SI Swimsuit’s Jordan Chiles Opens Up on Losing Olympic Bronze Medal: ‘I Know What My Truth Is’

The accomplished gymnast got emotional while talking about the Paris Olympics. Also this week, Chiles made her SI Swimsuit debut.

Jordan Chiles during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

23-year-old Oregon-born gymnast Jordan Chiles is one of the most influential young athletes of the year, making her comeback to the Olympics for the Paris Games and helping the United States team reach gold. Chiles, who is also an advocate for mental health and body positivity, will be returning to UCLA in the new year to compete with the Bruins gymnastics team again. But at the moment, the first-ever women's all-around Winter Cup champion is focused on seeking justice for her appearance at this year’s Olympics, where her bronze medal was stripped away from her.

Chiles’s experience at the Paris Olympics was a whirlwind—while she originally finished the final floor gymnastics competition in fifth place, an inquiry made by Team USA coach Cecile Landi determined she actually deserved third, and she made history with an all-Black podium standing next to Simone Biles and Rebeca Andrade. However, the inquiry was reviewed further and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced it was made too late, placing Chiles back in fifth place.

Fans were incredibly disappointed in the decision, considering Chiles did nothing wrong, and the 23-year-old is now fighting to get her bronze back. In her first TV interview, Chiles appeared on NBC’s TODAY show on Monday to speak about the situation with Hoda Kotb, saying she “finally now” feels comfortable to talk more about it.” Not only was the athlete stripped of her prize in Paris, but she also faced racist comments in the aftermath. She and her legal team filed an appeal on the decision in September and are awaiting next steps.

“It’s honestly been a very, very difficult time,” Chiles told Kotb, making sure to acknowledge how appreciative she is of the support she’s received from loved ones, peers and fans. “It's hard to tell yourself everything is going to be fine when we literally didn’t do anything wrong. Everything was in the time that it needed to be," she said. “For them to come back and say it was four seconds too late when we have proof … I can only control what my truth is and I know that we were right.”

When Kotb asked Chiles how it felt to receive the bronze medal, she recalled, “It was like a cherry on top.”

"Plus it was an all Black podium. That was history being made. I was very glad to be a part of [it]," Chiles added.

Elsewhere in the interview, Chiles got emotional when addressing the loss of two family members, her aunt and grandfather, who both died in 2023. “It’s definitely been a really hard year and to know that this was the ending of something that I thought was going to be perfect...,” she told Kotb, “but as my grandpa would always say, everything happens for a reason.”

Chiles referred to the tattoo she got in honor of her late grandfather, which serves as a motto for her now in tough times: “Where you are, I have been. Where I am, you will be.”

“I’ll be able to overcome this. And I’ll be able to look back and say, ‘You know what? That was just a portion of my story, but it’s the truth,’” Chiles summed up. And when asked about the next Olympics, taking place in Los Angeles in 2028, the gymnast shared, “L.A. is in and out of my mind. I think right now, I’m just trying to take in what’s happened from Paris and just take day by day."

As Chiles works towards justice for what happened to her at the Paris Olympics, she’s also keeping very busy. Also today, the gymnast made her SI Swimsuit debut, with the brand releasing the first official photo from her shoot with photographer Ben Horton. The athlete, who is a complete inspiration to us, posed in a bright blue one-piece swimsuit with flattering cut-outs, posing in the air for an epic shot in Boca Raton, Fla.:

Jordan Chiles was photographed by Ben Horton in Boca Raton, Fla. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated

We’ll have to wait to see the full spread of her SI Swimsuit photo shoot once we get closer to the May 2025 issue, but for now, we’re so thrilled to celebrate such a force. Plus, we’ve been sharing behind the scenes shots of her incredible shoot today, so make sure you check those out here.

Meet Jordan Chiles, SI Swimsuit’s Newest Athlete. dark. Next. Jordan Chiles Intro