Flavor Flav, as always, knows what time it is. The Olympic-caliber rap icon says, “I know a watch can never replace a bronze medal, but my heart is here.”
Flav presented American gymnast Jordan Chiles with a glittering bronze watch he made after she was stripped of her bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
The 23-year-old US gymnast had initially won a bronze medal in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics, but was stripped of the medal following a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“It was very heartbreaking for her and very sad for me to see it happen,” Flav said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I thought the girl did a great job and she deserved a medal. I’d like her to be recognized in some way.”
In a series of complex events at the Aug. 5 meet, Chiles’ original scores were not good enough to land her on the medal podium, but after it was determined that Chiles’ difficulty scores had not been entered correctly and a protest from her coach, Cecil Kanketo Lundy, the judges adjusted her scores.
(Team USA later released a video claiming that Randi spoke just 13 seconds into Chile’s performance.) Romanian gymnast Ana Barbos came in third and won the bronze medal despite a challenge by her country’s Olympic Committee to Chile’s scoring.
USA Gymnastics officials said the arbitration panel declined to reconsider its decision ordering Chile to return the medals.
Flav, who is world-famous for wearing a watch as a necklace, commissioned Rock ‘n’ Stone, the same company that makes his own watches, to create a bronze timepiece for Chiliz. “They did a fantastic job,” Flav said.
Flav shared a video of the product on social media on Monday. The bronze hands are set to midnight (or noon) and the circular case of the watch’s face is adorned with several rhinestones. The video plays the Public Enemy song “He Got Game,” with the lyrics changed to “She Got Game.”
Chills has stayed off social media since the controversy began, but her mother, Gina Chills, posted a message to X on Monday saying, “Thank you so much. I’m so happy,” and shared a video of Flav’s watch. “As you can imagine, she’s not on social media right now,” Gina replied to Flav’s post, adding, “I’ll share this with her,” along with a heart handprint emoji.
Coach Flav said he is optimistic he can give Chiles time.
“I just made it, it’s brand new right now, so I think she’ll be able to receive it,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said. “I’m going to get it to her somehow. I’d love for it to be delivered to her in person, but if I can’t get it to her in person, I’m going to send it to her. Whatever happens, I’m going to make sure it gets to her.”
John Katsilometes’ column appears daily in Section A. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow us! Johnny Katz @JohnnyKats1 on X and @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.