The US gymnast was deprived of the medal she won in the women's floor competition at the Paris Games last year amid a scoring row and has opened up on the "devastating" mental impact of having her lifelong dream dashed.

Chiles told ESPN: "It's still a struggle to talk about it. Six months ago, I was not able to move.

"I was stuck in my bed. I was mentally gone, mentally not okay."

Chiles stood on the podium at the event last August but was later demoted to fifth place after Romanian athletes Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Voinea were both successful in appealing the judges' scoring and spoke of the emotional turmoil she went through after having the medal taken away.

The athlete - who says she is yet to return the bronze - said: "I can still feel the joy and happiness I had when I won the bronze medal. I was happy that I was able to stand on that podium with Simone (Biles) and Rebeca (Andrade) because that's a lifelong dream of a little girl. But now, some days I don't get to think that way."

Chiles and her lawyers are still fighting the decision to strip her of the medal and she revealed that she considered quitting gymnastics for good after the row.

She said: "I thought, 'There's no way I'm going to compete on a competition floor again'.

"I'm going to get looked at. People are going to yell crazy things. The negativity is just going to keep coming."