Simone Biles, Suni Lee share messages to Jordan Chiles after bronze medal overturned
(NEW YORK) — Simone Biles and Suni Lee took to social media to share support for teammate Jordan Chiles after the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) ruled that Chiles’ bronze medal for her gymnastic floor exercise would be returned and reallocated to Romania’s Ana Bărbosu.
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced on Sunday that it would be appealing the decision to award the medal to Bărbosu, saying in a statement: “We firmly believe that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal.”
Biles posted an Instagram story of her and Chiles embracing with white hearts across the top of the photo.
“Sending you so much love, Jordan,” Biles wrote in her post. “Keep your chin up Olympic champ! We love you!”
Lee also posted an Instagram story reposting USA Gymnastics’ statement on the ruling reversal.
“All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges??” wrote Lee. “Completely unacceptable. This is awful and I’m gutted for Jordan. I got your back forever Jo.”
“U have all my flowers and you will ALWAYS be Olympic champion,” she wrote, adding a flower emoji.
Chiles also posted on social media on Saturday as the appeal was unfolding.
Chiles posted a story with broken heart emojis followed by another, saying she would be leaving social media for the moment.
“I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health thank you,” she wrote.
The decision by the FIG to award Bărbosu third place comes after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided an appeal made by Team USA that was made at the event and resulted in Chiles’ placing third, with CAS citing a rule that the appeal on Chiles’ score was “raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline.”
“We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise,” USA Gymnastics wrote in a statement shared to Instagram on Saturday after the ruling was delivered, adding: “Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media.”
(NEW YORK) — A 14-year-old has become the youngest female to play professional soccer in the United States.
McKenna “Mak” Whitham set the record in her debut Sunday — one day after her 14th birthday — with the National Women’s Soccer League’s NJ/NY Gotham FC, the NWSL confirmed to ABC News’ Good Morning America.
The NWSL posted on the social platform X about Whitham after her appearance in Gotham FC’s 1-0 win against the Washington Spirit.
“Professional debut ✅ 14-year-old Mak Whitham goes into the history books!” the league wrote.
In a statement to GMA, an NWSL spokesperson welcomed Whitham to the league.
“We welcome Mak to the NWSL and look forward to watching her develop as she begins her professional career. Mak’s signing aligns with our existing Under-18 Entry Mechanism, which has been expanded to include additional provisions around pediatric medical evaluations, facilities and safety assessments, and commitments from clubs signing U-18 players to establish long-term development plans for both the player and the individual,” the statement began. “We will continue evaluating our standards to ensure we are taking a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to all player development and wellbeing, particularly that of the young athletes entering our league.”
The NWSL only lifted its minimum age of 18 years old in 2022 following a lawsuit by then-15-year-old player Olivia Moultrie.
“Signing her first professional contract, just celebrated her 14th birthday, and making her @NWSL debut in the same week?! We’re so happy to have you, Mak Whitham!! 🖤” Gotham FC added in another post on X.
Gotham FC celebrated Whitham’s debut in a statement to GMA as well.
“We are incredibly excited for Mak to make her debut last night. This is a great step in her journey as a professional athlete, and she has worked hard to get to this point,” Gotham FC General Manager and Head of Soccer Operations Yael Averbuch West said.
Whitham, a native of California, is a national team replacement while NWSL players are competing for Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Whitham signed a four-year deal, which begins Jan. 1, 2025, and is guaranteed until 2028, according to a July 26 release from Gotham FC.
A forward, Whitham became the youngest to sign a contract with the NWSL when she was 13 and is, so far, the youngest athlete in any sport to sign an NIL, or name, image and likeness, deal with Nike.
“My goal is to be a top player in the NWSL, and I know that Gotham will help me become that player,” Whitham told ESPN after signing with Gotham.
Whitman broke the record just weeks after Cavan Sullivan made his debut in MLS with the Philadelphia Union at 14 years and 293 days old, then a record for the youngest pro player in the U.S.
(NEW YORK) — As the 2024 Summer Olympics officially kick off in Paris on July 26, USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan joined Brad Mielke on Thursday’s episode of “Start Here,” ABC News’ flagship daily news podcast, and dived into the concession made by the U.S. Olympic Committee and officials from Salt Lake City, Utah, in order to secure the city’s bid to host the 2034 Winter Games, which the city also hosted in 2002.
START HERE: But as far as the U.S. is concerned, the biggest Olympics story of the day did not have anything to do with Paris at all. In the wee hours of the morning, Salt Lake City, Utah, learned it will once again be the host of the Winter Olympics, in 2034. That was the sound of people cheering this news at 4 a.m. local time in Salt Lake City. They’ve got a decade to get even more amped up.
But the International Olympic Committee announced a rule here that has already created a really weird vibe. Let’s take you to Paris right now, where Christine Brennan is covering the Games. She’s a sports columnist with USA Today…she’s also an ABC News contributor. Christine, can you just explain what’s going on with the future Olympics?
BRENNAN: Brad, this was crazy. Salt Lake City is really the only city that wants to host the Winter Olympics. It’s getting harder and harder for the International Olympic Committee to find cities and countries that are interested. It costs so much money, it’s so difficult. Obviously, climate change, you know, all the things that we know about what it is with an Olympics.
So you get a city like Salt Lake City, which hosted the 2002 Olympics and did a fabulous job, great Olympic Games. And this was a slam dunk. Everyone just expected it would just go without any issue, any problem. Instead, several International Olympic Committee members proposed an amendment. And they want the U.S. to drop the FBI investigation into the Chinese doping controversy.
START HERE: Yeah, I think the language was like the U.S. cannot “undermine the world anti-doping agency,” they can’t undermine WADA, which you’d think like, why would they do that? And yet it apparently all goes back to this federal investigation of Chinese athletes. Can you brush us up on that?
BRENNAN: We just found out about it. The New York Times and a German public broadcasting company exposed it a few months ago. Chinese swimmers, the 23 swimmers tested positive before the Tokyo Olympics. But it was never revealed, no transparency. They went to compete in Tokyo and three, three golds. They won three golds. And 11 of them, of the 23, are competing here. And so all these athletes that competed in Tokyo, including Katie Ledecky in a relay, came in second to people who had tested positive a few months earlier. That outrages the United States.
Because of a law known as the Rodchenkov Act, it allows the U.S., in this case, the FBI, to go after officials or others in a criminal manner and criminal prosecution, who were involved in this doping scheme. They’ve already served a subpoena to the World Aquatics executive director. Again that’s swimming, to try to figure out this doping scheme, what happened and why the world didn’t know about it.
START HERE: OK, so this is like an ultimatum. You can have the Games if you stop investigating this. What did U.S. organizers do?
BRENNAN: Stunningly and amazingly, just I cannot believe it, the Salt Lake City officials and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee caved.
START HERE: Wow.
BRENNAN: They caved. And so while you had Katie Ledecky an hour and a half earlier in a press conference talking about the importance of clean sport. One floor and 90 minutes later, you had these officials caving in to demands, as from the International Olympic Committee, for them to get rid of the investigation into something that Katie Ledecky — Michael Phelps just testified in front of Congress — that they care so much about.
START HERE: Right and it’s interesting, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency sounded pretty furious about this, but they sound more upset with the IOC for pressuring Salt Lake City. Local organizers though, Christine, sounded upbeat about this. You had Utah Gov. Spencer Cox yesterday defending all this. But I guess I’m just confused as to why the organizers made this concession? Like if the U.S. has been so public about wanting to go after these people and protecting their own athletes, frankly?
BRENNAN: Because they were scared they were going to lose the Olympics otherwise. I cannot believe that Salt Lake officials and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee didn’t just say no.
Now, what’s going to end up happening here, I believe, is that it will be a rude awakening, because I cannot imagine Congress taking too kindly to what the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Salt Lake officials just did. And I’ve got to believe that if any of these officials show up and deserve to be arrested, they’re going to get a knock on the door and they’re going to be arrested. And so they may be the most shocked people on the planet when they thought they got this deal from Salt Lake City.
So it’s truly a mess. It’s stunning. It’s exactly the way that they did not want to kick off the Olympic week. But it is something worthy of all of our attention.
I think for a lot of people, they remember Salt Lake City and they remember the bribery scandal from 1999. Once again, Salt Lake City officials are involved again in a major controversy of their own making. This is supposed to be such a positive thing, and now they’re mired right back in controversy, just as they were at the beginning of the century.
START HERE: Wow. Unbelievable. And Christine Brennan will, of course, have a column in USA Today that’s out actually right now this morning. Thank you so much, Christine.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Chicago Cubs 10, Detroit Tigers 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
N-Y Yankees 6, Cleveland Guardians 0 Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics Toronto Blue Jays 5, L-A Angels 3 Houston Astros 6, Baltimore Orioles 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington Nationals 8, Colorado Rockies 3 St. Louis Cardinals 3, Milwaukee Brewers 0 Pittsburgh Pirates 7, Cincinnati Reds 0 Atlanta Braves 3, Philadelphia Phillies 2 N-Y Mets at San Diego Padres (TBA)
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PRESEASON
Indianapolis Colts 27, Cincinnati Bengals 14 Chicago Bears 34, Kansas City Chiefs 21