Olivia Dunne opens up on Jordan Chiles medal controversy - "I don’t know if they made the scores close on purpose"

Olivia Dunne expressed support for Olympic medalist Jordan Chiles weeks after the American gymnast was stripped of her bronze medal. The LSU senior said Chiles was one of her 'good friends' and hoped that she was doing well amid the unfolding drama.

Chiles initially scored 13.600 in the floor exercise final at the Paris Olympics. However, her coach, Cecile Landi, successfully appealed the judges' decision, resulting in a revised score of 13.766. This score elevated her to third place, behind Simone Biles and Rebecca Andrade, securing her a career-first individual Olympic medal.

Days after Chiles returned to the USA with her medal, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the decision to increase the scores of the American gymnast. They argued that Landi had filed the appeal after the allotted one-minute time limit, and the court accepted it and requested the IOC to return the medal to the Romanian gymnast.

However, Chiles later filed an appeal through her own lawyers against the decision. While the case is still ongoing, her friend and NCAA rival Olivia Dunne has expressed support for the Olympic champion. The 22-year-old also stated that she had never witnessed such an event in the history of gymnastics.

“That was a tricky situation. I don’t know if they made the scores close on purpose, I have no clue. I’ve never seen anything like that in gymnastics history. I love Jordan, she’s one of my good friends, we grew up doing elite gymnastics together. I just think the whole situation was so tricky, and I feel bad for everyone that was a part of it," she told Fox News Digital

The LSU senior also expressed hope for Chiles' well-being.

"I just hope my girl Jordan is OK. It got dragged out way too long, even after the games were over. The whole situation was just super tricky, and I feel so bad for all the girls involved," Dunne added

Chiles is currently competing in the Gold Over America Tour alongside her best friend Simone Biles.

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Why did Olivia Dunne not compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics?

LSU v Florida - Olivia Dunne in action (Source: Getty)

While Olivia Dunne continues her college gymnastics career in her fifth year with the LSU Tigers, she left elite gymnastics shortly after joining college, citing injuries as the primary reason. She chose to focus solely on college gymnastics, which is generally less demanding than elite gymnastics. As a result, her dreams of competing at the Olympics ended, leading to her absence from the 2024 Games.

"That dream (Olympics) has died. I got hurt when I think I was about 15-16 years old, my bone had died in my ankle and it fractured, so I kind of realized this is not for me anymore," she said on BFF's podcast

Dunne competed internationally with the USA's junior national team and was a teammate of Jordan Chiles on the junior circuit. Her last elite competition was the 2020 Nastia Liukin Cup, where she placed 11th in the level 10 division.