I have watched the Olympics for decades and remember a time when there were no Black gymnasts. Not one. I watched Olga Korbut represent the former Soviet Union and Nadia Comeneci represent Romania in the 1970s. In the 1980s, there was Mary Lou Retton, among others, representing the United States. Then, in the 1990s, Dominique Dawes appeared on the scene as the first African American to qualify for and win an individual gymnastics medal in the Olympics. She broke the barrier in a sport that had up until that point been dominated by White people. She was followed by Gabby Douglas in 2012, who became the first African American to win an all-around gold. Then, of course, the indomitable Simone Biles took the sport to a whole new level starting in 2016.
On August 5, 2024, the world witnessed the first ever all-Black Olympics podium with Rebeca Andrade of Brazil (gold), Biles of the United States (silver) and Jordan Chiles of the United States (bronze) for the floor exercise. Unfortunately, Jordan’s medal win was immediately fraught with contention because she went into her routine in fifth place behind two from Romania. When she ended her routine, her score originally kept her in fifth, but her coach appealed about her obtaining credit for one of her moves. The judges corrected their mistake, which bumped Jordan’s score up to third place. She was awarded the medal at the ceremony, which now has the iconic picture of Jordan and Simone bowing to Rebeca.
As a person who has never even done a somersault, I was filled with pride to see three young people who look like me standing on an international stage as the best in the world — the first time ever to happen in gymnastics. It was absolutely heartbreaking for the Romanian gymnast to think that she had third place only to have that recalculated. And in a perfect world, two bronze medals could have been awarded since the mistake in scoring was on the judges.The athletes did nothing wrong.
Days later, the whole thing escalated into a mess so head-spinning that I couldn’t even keep track of it ,with all of the breaking news posts on my news app and X (formerly Twitter). One minute Jordan was ordered to give back the bronze medal so it could be given to the Romanian. Another minute there was an appeal, then a video, then another judgment. My nerves were wracked, so I assume those of the athletes were in shreds. On top of that, Jordan’s mother wrote on X that her daughter had been called “disgusting names” that were racist. And Jordan understandably took herself off social media.
I saw a lot of comments on social media asking why we couldn’t just congratulate the barrier-breaking athletes without mentioning race. Obviously, race still matters to those who are anti-Black. I wondered if they sent that message to the people who were hurling racist insults at Jordan? Or just those who expressed pride in the fact that all three medalists were Black for the first time in history?
The racial difference between the athletes and subsequent racist insults hurled at them is impossible to ignore. The whole dynamics were triggering for me. For me, the issue has become bigger than one floor exercise at one Olympic performance. The optics of demanding that an African American woman give back something she earned based on objective agreed-upon criteria so a White woman with a lower score could have it due to some obscure loophole was reminiscent of a whole lot of race-based historical injustice.
The situation with Jordan brought up waves of memories of situations where I’ve personally known about or experienced a White person promoted in jobs over a Black person with more education or higher performance level. I couldn’t help but think about the long history of Black people not being allowed to go into certain establishments because they were Black. Not being able to eat in certain places because they were Black. Not being able to attend certain schools, live in certain neighborhoods, belong to certain clubs, shop in certain stores, be hired for certain jobs, gain access to certain loans, because they were Black.
So, when people imply that race should not be an issue to even mention, my emotional response is that Blackness has been an issue in the United States and used as a reason for exclusion for centuries. But now, when we finally are included, and make it to the top, all of the history and pain of exclusion is supposed to be forgotten when a Black person is potentially losing a medal to someone they outperformed?
Romania is a predominantly White country, the athlete who would be given the medal Jordan actually earned is White, the majority of the judges who are making this decision are White, and the sport has been dominated by White people for decades. So sorry, for me, race is the elephant in the room. It’s hard for me and most people I know to imagine the opposite situation happening — where a White woman is asked to give her medal (that she rightfully earned through her performance) to a Black woman (with a lower score) based solely on a procedural error. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe we’re all wrong to read into the racial dynamics. But, where were all of the people who are asking us to “not see color” when all of the injustices against Black people were taking place for the past several decades? Were these same “I don’t see color” people out advocating for “colorblindness” when Black people were routinely excluded? Did these same people refuse to accept the benefits of having “Whites only” access to almost every opportunity which was enforced by rules, policies, laws and processes?
The story of the bronze medal keeps changing so fast that it’s hard to keep track of where things are by hour or day. At this point, with all of the ups and downs, twists and turns, escalation to more people and tribunals and courts, the physical medal seems like an aside. Apparently, Romania will have a ceremony giving Ana Maria Barbosu the award that was reallocated to her from Jordan. But, no matter what happens, Jordan will forever be the person who had the higher score in the competition, and the iconic image of her with Simone and Rebeca will never be erased. This fight will probably drag on for years as other controversies did. But it’s the first time ever that an Olympic athlete loses their medal because the judges made a mistake. Despite this gut-wrenching situation, like many others who experienced a high-profile disappointment, I hope this controversy will propel Jordan to know that no one else can measure her worth, and she will ascend to even greater heights that will make an Olympic bronze medal pale in comparison.