Taking away an Olympian’s medal is unusual — but not uncommon. On Sunday, the American gymnast Jordan Chiles became the latest athlete to lose one.
At the Paris Olympics, Ms. Chiles had won bronze in the individual floor exercise. She originally finished in fifth place with a score that was less than one-tenth of a point from third place, but after her coach appealed, she won the bronze. That appeal, however, came four seconds too late, a court ruled, reinstating Ms. Chiles’s original score. The bronze will now go to Ana Barbosu of Romania, according to the International Olympic Committee. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee intends to appeal the ruling.
Several other athletes in Olympic history have had to return a medal — most commonly after a failed drug test or the use of a banned substance. Here are some other notable cases of U.S. Olympians giving up their medals — or winning new ones after another athlete was disqualified.
Jim Thorpe, 1912 Stockholm Games
The American track and field star Jim Thorpe won two gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon in Stockholm, setting a world record in the latter event, with 8,412 points, that stood until 1948.
But Mr. Thorpe was also talented in several other sports, including baseball, basketball and football.
Before he competed in the Olympics as a track and field athlete, he played professional baseball in North Carolina in 1909 and 1910. This violated the Olympics’ rules at the time regarding amateurism, leading officials to strip his medals and decathlon record. His gold for the pentathlon event went to Ferdinand Reinhardt Bie of Norway, and Hugo K. Wieslander of Sweden got his gold from the decathlon.
The medals eventually made their way back to Mr. Thorpe — albeit after his death. In 1983, more than 70 years after the games, and three decades after Mr. Thorpe died, the medals were restored in a ceremony attended by his family.
Lance Armstrong, 2000 Sydney Games
One of the most high-profile cases of an American athlete returning a medal involved the cyclist Lance Armstrong, who gave up his bronze from the men’s individual time trial in Sydney.
At the time, Mr. Armstrong was already famous as a Tour de France champion and cancer survivor who founded a nonprofit now known as the Livestrong Foundation. Thirteen years after his bronze medal in Sydney, he publicly admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs throughout much of his career, which started in the 1980s.
He was stripped not only of his medal, but also his seven Tour de France titles and other cycling awards that he had received since 1998. He was also banned from Olympic sports for life.
In 2018, Mr. Armstrong agreed to pay $5 million to resolve a lawsuit accusing him of defrauding the federal government by using performance-enhancing drugs when the United States Postal Service sponsored his cycling team.
Marion Jones, 2000 Sydney Games
Marion Jones won three golds and two bronzes in track and field events, including the 100-meter event, in Sydney. But seven years later, she admitted in federal court to taking performance-enhancing drugs before the Games, and she was stripped of those medals and banned from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Ms. Jones was also part of a 2002 federal investigation into Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, which was accused of providing steroids to athletes. She testified in front of a grand jury that she had not taken the drugs, but she later admitted that was a lie. She was eventually sentenced to six months in prison.
Carl Lewis, 1988 Seoul Games
Carl Lewis, another American track and field star, initially won silver for the 100-meter final in Seoul, setting a record for Americans at 9.92 seconds.
But in the end, Mr. Lewis received the gold medal. The athlete who came in first, Ben Johnson of Canada, failed drug tests, which showed that he had used an anabolic steroid, disqualifying him from the competition. He was forced to give up his gold medal to Mr. Lewis.
Jason Turner, 2008 Beijing Games
In the 10-meter air pistol competition, the American shooter Jason Turner initially came in fourth place. But in another case of a failed drug test, the original bronze medalist, Kim Jong-su of North Korea, tested positive for propranolol, a banned substance. That forced him to turn over his medal to Mr. Turner.
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