USA shot putter Chase Jackson arrives at Olympics to find none of her uniforms fit

USA shot putter Chase Jackson was eager to get going upon her arrival in Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games. However, what she soon discovered about her uniforms led to a somewhat sour start.

Jackson, who stands 5-foot-10, found that all of the uniforms she had been provided were too small. She revealed in an Instagram story on Monday that the realization left her feeling emotional.

“When you spend your first hour in Paris crying ’cause they didn’t give you anything in your size,” she wrote amid a photo of herself with misty eyes.

Jackson later explained in another Instagram story that it was a “logistical nightmare” that led to the unfortunate event. She also clarified that it was not a matter of the brands not having her size, simply that they sent her the wrong one.

“Turns out there was an admin error on the system that recorded all of my sizes incorrectly for all of the different brands,” she wrote. “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 continued in another Instagram story, explaining that her emotional reaction was due to the fact that she has experienced exclusion before. Fortunately, that was not the case in this instance.

“…I think I got so upset because it’s happened before where I’ve not been included and it’s hurtful,” she said. “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.”

Jackson, 30, is a two-time world champion in the shot put, most recently in 2023. She achieved her personal best throw in the 2023 World Outdoor Championships with a distance of 20.43 meters (67 feet).

This will be the first Olympics for Jackson, who qualified with a throw of 20.10 meters in the track and field qualifiers. She is an Oklahoma State alumna who was a three-time All-American in her career with the Cowgirls. She finished second in the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the shot put.

Jackson will likely be the favorite to win the shot put at the Olympics this year and take home gold for the USA. With the uniform issue now fixed, she’ll look forward to competing in the qualifying round on Thursday with finals on Friday.