Jordan Chiles is facing a tough blow as she must return her bronze medal from the women’s floor exercise following a scoring change on appeal. On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee confirmed that her score must revert to 13.666, placing her in fifth. This decision follows the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling, which awarded the bronze to Romania’s Ana Barbosu, who scored 13.700 and whose country filed the appeal.

Flavor Flav, known for his bold personality, has supported Chiles during this challenging time. While already making headlines by sponsoring a 5-year water polo team, his backing of Chiles amid the controversy adds another twist to his unpredictable story.

Flavor Flav once again being the ‘hype man’ and supporting Jordan Chiles

The American rapper Flavor Flav continued to show his support to Jordan Chiles, this time offering a Bronze necklace, as he posted on his X, captioning, “Ayyy YOOOO @ChilesJordan ,,, imma make you a BRONZE CLOCK NECKLACE,,, and that’s something NO ONE else has,!!! Hit me up my girl,,, I gotchu,!!!” with a GIF where he was dancing like no one is watching. This is his post after American gymnast Jordan Chiles was asked to return her Bronze medal by the IOC, as they now say it was a mistake made by the Olympic judges. The medal should have gone to Romanian Ana Barbosu. Flavor was responsible for awarding her a bronze clock necklace because of her outstanding performance. This is not the first time he has helped a woman athlete, as this Rock & Roll Hall of Famer helped many athletes who could not bear the expensive bill of training and travel. 

At the beginning of May, being a father of eight children and six girls, Flavor Flav stepped forward and decided to support women in sports. He said, “Supporting USA Water Polo teams is an honor.” When Maggi Stephens, the women’s water polo team’s captain, asked for funds for Olympic athletes, he came forward to help them financially and finally stayed true to his promise. This is one of the reasons why he flew to Paris this time, like to support them. He commented on an Instagram post with a lot of respect, “As a girl dad and supporter of all women’s sports – imma personally sponsor you my girl,,, whatever you need. And imma sponsor the whole team,” promising the athletes that whenever they need any financial support, he will be there for everyone, even after sponsoring the whole Women’s polo team.

Besides this, he gained attention for his generous act of donating to American discus thrower Veronica Fraley, an Olympian and National Champion, after she shared that she was struggling to pay rent. He also helped verify Veronica’s GoFundMe campaign to encourage more contributions towards her dreams. Additionally, he promised that if the water polo team won their fourth gold medal, he would reward the athletes and their families with clocks and a Virgin Voyages cruise trip. On that note, he clearly mentioned why he gave these gifts, as he said to USA Today in an interview, “My main goal is to hype this team up to get that fourth gold medal. Right now, on my hat, I’ve got three stars that represent each medal the girls got. I want to see a fourth star on my hat.”

He even appeared in all events at the Paris Olympics with a Team USA jacket to make himself feel like an Olympian. This co-founder of the hip-hop group Public Enemy has taken on the role of ‘official hype man’ for Team USA. He hasn’t backed down and continues to support his country’s teams, now stepping up for gymnastics as well. With his sponsorship, he’s been involved in water polo events and is now backing the gymnastics team. Despite the setback, Chiles’ resilience and talent shine through. The controversy around her performance has added an unexpected twist to her Olympic story.

Jordan Chiles’ performance at the floor exercise in the Paris Olympics 

During the floor exercise at the all-around final, Jordan Chiles initially scored 13.666. However, US team coach Cecile Landi questioned the score, which resulted in an additional 0.1 being added to her total, earning her the bronze medal with a final score of 13.766. This adjustment moved her ahead of Romania’s Ana Bărbosu and Sabrina Voinea, who were then placed in fourth and fifth. USA Gymnastics provided video evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, arguing that Chiles should retain her bronze medal in the Artistic Gymnastics Floor Exercises from the Paris 2024 Olympics. According to Olympic rules, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) regulations state that a coach can only appeal a score within one minute of its announcement.

But, she asked the judges to re-check the score four seconds later. After that, the high authority gave the Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu the bronze medal instead of Jordan Chiles, who came in fourth. USA Gymnastics announced, “The time-stamped, video shows Landi first stated her request to file an inquiry at the inquiry table 47 seconds after the score was posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the score was originally posted.” However, this decision by CAS will never affect the winner, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and Simone Biles, the silver medalist of the floor exercise.

However, right now, Chiles did not respond to this since she said she will take a break from social media as wrote on Instagram, “I am taking this and removing myself from social media or my mental health. Thank you” with a heartbroken emoji. She got the support from her teammates as well. The GOAT, Simone Biles, took to Instagram and put a story with the caption, “Sending you so much love, Jordan. keep your chin up Olympic champ! we love you!” Besides her, Sunisa Lee also showed her love and respect for Chiles, as she wrote on her Instagram story that Chiles would always be an Olympic champion for her while raising her fingers at the judges of the Olympics.