When Chase Jackson, a shot put thrower with Team USA, arrived in Paris for the Olympics and saw her uniforms, she felt heartbroken. Nothing was in her size. In an Instagram Story, she shared an image of her misty eyes and the reason behind her tears.
“When you spend your first hour in Paris crying ’cause they didn’t give you anything in your size,” she wrote.
In a follow-up post, she added more context, explaining the uniforms existed in her size, but she didn't receive them initially due to a logistical error.
“Arriving and seeing wrong sizes was obviously pretty upsetting but my team here have been amazing in fixing it,” she wrote. “The USATF/Team USA/Nike guys really came through.”
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When word spread that she had no uniforms in her size, fans of the 5-feet-10-inch tall track and field athlete felt enraged.
“This is some red hot BS not having official opening ceremony attire for this beautiful woman,” a Threads user shared.
Another wrote: “From Simone (Biles)’s hair to (rugby player) Ilona Maher’s BMI to (shot putter) Chase Jackson not being given a uniform because of her size, there has been so much body shaming.”
What happened with Chase Jackson’s Olympics uniform?
In a new story on Instagram, Jackson explained that she didn't receive uniforms in her size because of a clerical mistake.
“Turns out there was an admin error on the system that recorded all of my sizes incorrectly for all of the different brands,” she said. “Just to be clear, all brands do have my size, it just wasn’t given to me originally but I have it now, so it’s all good. There was no exclusion or anything just a super unfortunate logistical nightmare!”
She added that all her uniforms were “swapped,” so she now has her size.
In a follow-up Instagram Story, she shared why receiving the wrong size of uniforms made her so emotional.
"I think I got so upset because it's happened before where I've not been included and it's hurtful. I'm so thankful that's not the case here and it was an honest mistake. I'm happy to talk to anyone about these kinds of issues either in relation to this or the state of it in general, but it'll be after I've done my competing," she wrote.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee did not immediately respond to TODAY.com’s request for comment about why Jackson received the wrong size uniform.
Chase Jackson opens up about body confidence
In an interview with USA Today, Jackson shared that she believes that “strong is beautiful.” But she didn’t always feel this way, especially when she was a girl. “I was not the delicate dancer,” she told the publication. “It was hard. When people say something like, ‘You look strong as an ox!’ It’s like, ‘I’m 12, can you not say that?’”
As she aged, she learned to love her body more — with a lot of practice.
“It took a lot of time to be confident going out there (to the shot put ring) and wearing what I want,” Jackson said. “We grow up and we’re shown this one body, and if that’s not yours, you’re going to feel upset. I think it became important to me to talk about it because I want people to know there’s not only one way to look like an athlete. There’s not only one way to be beautiful. That’s a really important message.”
Jackson loves makeup and teaches herself the latest looks from social media videos. Often she relies on eye makeup used by drag queens because it doesn’t run when she sweats during competition. She's embraced her urge to be “girly” while throwing shot put to show others that there is no one way to be a female athlete.
“It became really important for me to advocate for creativity and showing girls you don’t have to just be rough and tumble to make people respect you as an athlete,” she said. “You can be feminine if you want.”
When is Chase Jackson competing in shot put?
Jackson will compete in the qualifying round for women’s shot put during the Paris Olympics on Aug. 8 with finals the next day.
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