Following the news that Jordan Chiles is being forced to return her Olympic bronze medal, Flavor Flav stepped in. He gifted the Team USA gymnast a custom bronze necklace.
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Jordan Chiles was awarded the bronze medal during the Olympic Games women’s gymnastics floor exercise final on Monday, Aug. 5. She initially scored a 13.666 on her routine, putting her in fifth place. She was behind Romania’s Barbosu in third place and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea in fourth place.
Team USA gymnastics coach Cecile Canqueteau-Landi filed an on-floor appeal. She claimed that Chiles’ score was incorrect due to the routine’s level of difficulty. The judges bumped up Chiles’ score up by 0.1, putting her in third place.
The Romanian gymnastics team then decided to file their own appeal. It claimed that the Team USA on-floor appeal was done outside the one-minute time limit. The time was one minute and four seconds. This means the original placements stand.
The decision for Chiles to give up the bronze medal was made after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in favor of an appeal filed by the Romanian gymnastics team.
As the ruling continues to shock the sports community, Flavor Flav, who was a huge supporter of TEAM USA’s Women’s Water Polo at the 2024 Olympics, stepped in to give Jordan Chiles a special gift. “USA gonna Fight the Powers that be,,, in the meantime between time,,, Imma always a man of my word,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Romanian Gymnastics Federation Issues Statement Stating It Never Agreed to Take Away Jordan Chiles’ Bronze Medal
In a statement on Monday, Aug. 12, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation spoke out about the ruling.
“The Romanian Gymnastics Federation has taken note of the international accusations and wishes to clarify certain extremely important aspects through this press release,” the statement reads. “The initiative to award bronze medals to all three athletes, Jordan Chiles, Ana-Maria Bărbosu, and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, was proposed by the lawyers of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, with the prior approval of the Federation.”
The leadership of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation (FRG), through its representatives, took all necessary steps to reach this consensus. “We emphasize that certain requests were made by the American side to achieve this goal,” the organization shared. “And our side consistently complied with these requests, a fact that was appreciated by the American representative.”
The organization then noted, “Throughout this period, FRG was supported by Nadia Comăneci to reach a fair consensus for all athletes, considering the technical difficulties encountered by the International Gymnastics Federation. FRG, together with its partners, has always sought to resolve this dispute in a manner that shows respect and appreciation for the athletes involved.”
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation also asks the entire gymnastics community to stop the attacks against the three gymnasts. This includes Nadia Comănec, whom it stated support has always been in favor of all three athletes /three medals. “FRG never agreed on taking away a medal,” it added.