The American gymnast Jordan Chiles must return the bronze medal she won in the Paris Olympics floor exercise. The news came after sport’s highest court voided an on-floor appeal by Chiles’ coach that vaulted the gymnast to third.
The International Olympic Committee announced early on Sunday it was reallocating the bronze from last Monday’s women’s floor final to Romania’s Ana Barbosu after gymnastics’ governing body, the FIG, said on Saturday night it would respect the court’s decision and elevate Barbosu to third.
The decision came less than 24 hours after the court of arbitration for sport voided a scoring appeal made by the Team USA coach Cecile Landi during the competition, which had placed Chiles on the podium.
Cas ruled on Saturday that Landi’s appeal to have 0.1 added to Chiles’ score came four seconds outside the one-minute window allowed by the FIG.
The IOC said in a statement it will be in touch with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee regarding the return of Chiles’ bronze and will work with the Romanian Olympic Committee to discuss a reallocation ceremony for Barbosu.
Cas wrote on Saturday that the initial finishing order should be restored, with Barbosu third, the Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth. The organization added the FIG should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the above decision”, but left it up to the federation to decide who would get the bronze medal. The Romanian gymnastics federation has asked for three bronze medals to be awarded.
The FIG said it was the IOC’s call on whether to reallocate the medal. The IOC confirmed on Sunday it would respect FIG’s decision and seek to have Chiles’ medal returned.
The rapid turn of events adds another layer to what has been a difficult few days for all three athletes. The Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci said she feared for Barbosu’s mental health because of the saga. “I can’t believe we play with athletes mental health and emotions like this … let’s protect them,” Comaneci posted on X earlier in the week.
Chiles hinted at the decision in an Instagram story on Saturday, saying she is “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you”.
Chiles’s US teammates expressed their support on Instagram. “Sending you so much love Jordan,” Simone Biles posted on Instagram. “Keep your chin up ‘Olympic champ’ we love you.” Sunisa Lee, meanwhile, criticised the judges for their role in the situation. “All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?” Lee wrote. “Completely unacceptable, this is awful and I’m gutted for jordan.”
USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Saturday it is “devastated” by the ruling. “The inquiry into the difficulty value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” the organization wrote.
Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left outside the medals in the floor final after finishing with matching scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze over Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker – a higher execution score – and began celebrating with a Romanian flag. Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially given a score of 13.666 that placed her fifth, behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi called for an inquiry on Chiles’ score was announced.
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“At this point, we had nothing to lose, so I was like: ‘We’re just going to try,’” Landi said after the awards ceremony. “I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and was like: ‘What?’” Judges upheld the appeal, leapfrogging Chiles past Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea.
Barbosu made it clear after returning home to Romania that she had no problem with Chiles. “I only want for everybody to be fair, we don’t want to start picking on other athletes of any nationality,” Barbosu told reporters. “We as athletes don’t deserve something like that, we only want to perform as best as we can and to be rewarded based on our performance. The problems lie with the judges, with their calculations and decisions.”
Chiles’s mother, Gina, called out the critics in a post, writing she was “tired” of the derogatory comments being leveled at her daughter. “My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and a level of sportsmanship that is unmatched,” Gina Chiles posted. “And she’s being called disgusting things.”
The uncertainty also tinges what had been a touching moment on the podium, when Chiles and Biles knelt to honor Rebeca Andrade after the Brazilian star won her fourth medal in Paris.
“It was just the right thing to do,” Biles said about the moment. That memory now carries a complicated and emotional postscript.
