Olympics

It's not just Jordan Chiles: Americans who have returned — or gained — an Olympic medal

Since the 1900s, Team USA has seen at least two dozen Olympic medals retroactively gained or revoked, for reasons ranging from doping to rules violations

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In an ongoing battle for bronze, American gymnast Jordan Chiles saw her medal taken away for the individual floor event of the Paris Olympics.

After Chiles initially placed fifth, her coach appealed the judges' scoring of the routine's difficulty, bumping Chiles to third place. However, a court ruled that the appeal came four seconds too late and reinstated the original score, with bronze now going to Romania's Ana Barbosu. USA Gymnastics is currently appealing that decision.

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Since the 1900s, Team USA has seen at least two dozen Olympic medals retroactively gained or revoked, for reasons ranging from doping to rules violations. Here are seven cases of American Olympians who returned their medal or gained a new one after another athlete was disqualified.

Jim Thorpe, 1912 Stockholm Games

Jim Thorpe.
Jim Thorpe, who was stripped of his two gold medals from the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, had his medals reinstated posthumously. (Branger/Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

Jim Thorpe, a Native American track and field athlete regarded as one of the greatest of his time, was the first Olympian to ever be stripped of a medal.

Thorpe won gold in both the pentathlon and decathlon, but the International Olympic Committee stripped him of both medals in 1913 after learning the athlete had played semi-professional baseball before the Stockholm Games, which violated the Olympics' amateurism rules in place at the time. His pentathlon gold went to Norway's Ferdinand Reinhardt Bie, and the decathlon gold to Sweden's Hugo Wieslander.

Thorpe's medals were reinstated posthumously in 1982, 29 years after his death. The IOC determined that the disqualification had been improper.

Calvin Smith, 1988 Seoul Games

Calvin Smith passes the baton to teammate Carl Lewis in the 4x100m relay during the 1984 Olympic Games.
Tony Duffy/ Getty Images
Calvin Smith passes the baton to teammate Carl Lewis in the 4x100m relay during the 1984 Olympic Games.

Doping violations by other athletes meant that sprinter Calvin Smith was never able to stand on the podium and receive his medal.

Smith finished fourth in the men's 100-meter dash at the 1988 Olympics; Ben Johnson of Canada was crowned the champion, followed by Team USA's Carl Lewis in second and Britain's Linford Christie in third. Johnson was later found to have tested positive for stanozolol, a commonly used performance-enhancing steroid, and he was stripped of his gold medal. This bumped Smith to a podium finish of third place.

However, both Lewis and Christie also had their own drugs scandals, though neither had been disqualified. It is why Smith says he should have been the gold medalist, and why the 1988 men's 100-meter race is described as one of the dirtiest in Olympic history.

Marion Jones, 2000 Sydney Games

Marion Jones.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones pleaded guilty in 2007 to charges in connection with steroid use as she prepared for the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. (AFP/Getty Images)

Marion Jones had five Olympic medals revoked, the most of any athlete in the history of the Games.

Jones had won three gold medals and two bronzes after competing in the 100-meter, 200-meter, 4x100-meter relay, 4x400-meter relay and long jump in the Sydney Games. She admitted to steroid use seven years later in federal court and was banned from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Jones also admitted to lying about not taking drugs in a 2002 federal investigation, which resulted in her being sentenced to six months in prison.

The medal changes shifted the standing of seven other athletes.

Lance Armstrong, 2000 Sydney Games

Before he admitted to doping, Lance Armstrong competed in the New York City Marathon in both 2006 and 2007. For his first marathon, his time was 2 hours and 59 minutes while the following year he clocked in at 2 hours and 46 minutes.
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Before he admitted to doping, Lance Armstrong competed in the New York City Marathon in both 2006 and 2007.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong had to return his bronze medal from the men's individual time trial in the Sydney Olympics. He admitted to doping in 2013 and was not only stripped of his Olympic medal, but also all titles he had won since August 1998, including seven Tour de France titles and other cycling awards. Armstrong was banned from the Olympics for life.

Spain's Abraham Olano had come in fourth in the time trial, but the IOC decided the bronze medal spot would remain vacant.

Adam Nelson, 2004 Athens Games

Gold medalist Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine, silver medalist Adam Nelson of USA (L) and bronze medalist Joachim Olsen of Denmark during the medal ceremony of the men's shot put event during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
Nick Laham/Getty Images
Gold medalist Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine, silver medalist Adam Nelson of USA (L) and bronze medalist Joachim Olsen of Denmark during the medal ceremony of the men's shot put event during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games.

Adam Nelson was crowned the runner-up in the men's shot put event at the 2004 Olympics. Eight years later, he found out he had actually been the champion.

Ukraine's Yuriy Bilonog, who had received the gold medal, had tested positive in a retroactive drug test in 2012 and was stripped of his Olympic title. Nelson finally received his gold medal in 2013. Denmark's Joachim Olsen was bumped to second, and Spain's Manuel Martínez received bronze. For both Denmark and Spain, this was their first medal in shot put.

Jason Turner, 2008 Beijing Games

Team USA's Jason Turner shoots during the men's 10m air pistol final at the Beijing 2008 Olympics on Aug. 9, 2008.
AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev
Team USA's Jason Turner shoots during the men's 10m air pistol final at the Beijing 2008 Olympics on Aug. 9, 2008.

Jason Turner originally placed fourth in the 10-meter air pistol competition. However, North Korea's Kim Jong-su — who initially won bronze — tested positive for a banned drug three days after the win. Kim was expelled from the Olympic Village, and the medal went to Turner.

Tyson Gay, 2012 London Games

tyson gay
Getty Images
Tyson Gay of the United States races en route to winning the Men's B 100m during the adidas Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island on June 9, 2012 in New York City.

In one of the most recent American cases preceding Chiles', Tyson Gay — along with Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin and Ryan Bailey — had won the silver medal in the men's 4x100-meter relay at the 2012 Olympics.

A year later, Gay tested positive for a prohibited drug and was suspended for a year by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. The entire sprint relay team was stripped of their medals. Trinidad and Tobago was re-allocated the silver medal, and France stepped onto the podium in third place.

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