Jordan Chiles is set to lose the Olympic bronze medal she won in the women’s floor final after a bombshell ruling from the Court of Arbitration of Sport on Saturday.
The 23-year-old US gymnast came third in the event, behind gold medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and silver medalist and fellow teammate Simone Biles.
But this was only after Chiles’ score of 13.666, which had initially placed her fifth, was bumped up by 0.1 following an appeal from her coach.
The change to her score meant that Romania’s Ana Barbosu and her teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea were pushed down to fourth and fifth, each with matching scores of 13.700.
But, in a shock ruling today, the CAS ruled the judging panel were wrong to allow Chiles’ score to be increased as the appeal came outside the one minute window allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
CAS wrote in its decision that the initial finishing order should be restored, with 18-year-old Barbosu third, teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth.
USA gymnastics said it is ‘devastated’ by the decision, with Chiles taking to social media to say she was removing herself from social media ‘for my mental health’.
Jordan Chiles could lose the Olympic bronze medal she won in the women’s floor final
Simone Biles (left), and Jordan Chiles (right) bow down to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade (centre) after winning gold for the artistic gymnastics women’s floor event
The three gymnasts made history as the first all-black Olympic gymnastics podium in history
Jordan Chiles posted two statements to social media about her losing her bronze medal
Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left outside the medals in Monday’s 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, right behind Maneca-Voinea.
But her coach Cecile Landi called for an inquiry over a jump that had originally been given a lower difficulty grade.
Judges awarded the appeal, which saw Chiles leapfrog past Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea for the last spot on the podium.
Barbosu responded by dropping her Romanian flag in horror before bringing her hands to her face and walking off in tears.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation said on August 7 it had submitted requests to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It said one of them was linked to the inquiry submitted by Chiles’ coaches.
‘Aware of the negative impact on Ana Maria Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation aims to correct the mistakes made by the judges and to restore the rights of our athletes,’ the federation said.
Team USA Olympian Jordan Chiles shows off her gold medal
Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially given a score of 13.666 that placed her fifth
Romania’s Ana Barbosu was in third place before the United States’ Olympic inquiry
Jordan Chiles was brought to tears after her scored was improved, bumping her into third place behind teammate Simone Biles
Barbosu responded to the score change by dropping her Romanian flag in horror before bringing her hands to her face and walking off in tears
Barbosu did not personally complain about the decision publicly, but she did repost a Romanian gymnastic legend’s criticism, which suggested American favoritism was afoot. She also later thanked fans for supporting her
Jordan Chiles (right) reacts to winning the bronze medal as teammate and silver medalist Simone Biles smiles next to her
Rebeca Andrade, Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles take a selfie on the podium after being awarded medals in the artistic gymnastics women’s floor event
The results of the floor exercise had caused an uproar in Romania.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Tuesday he will boycott the closing ceremony because of the ‘scandalous situation.’
Ciolacu promised Romania would honor Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea as Olympic medalists, ‘including in terms of the prizes.’
The bronze medal represented Chiles’ only individual medal of her Olympic career. She won a gold medal as part of the team event in Paris, and a silver medal in the same event in Tokyo.
Should Jordan Chiles lose her medal?
One of Jordan’s older sisters, Jazmin Chiles, posted a statement to her social media claiming racism was behind the decision to strip the USA gymnast of her bronze medal.
‘Please keep Jordan (and my family) in your prayers. Racism is real, it exists, it is alive and well,’ Jazmin said. ‘They have officially, 5 days later, stripped her of one of her medals.’
‘Not because she didn’t win, not because she was drugged, not because she stepped out of bounds. Not because she wasn’t good enough. But because the judges failed to give her difficulty and forced an inquiry to be made.’
‘FOUR SECONDS. Her bronze was stripped over 4 seconds of time that would have never needed to happen if the judges did their job. I love you baby sis. And I got you back no matter what.’
In a following post, she added: ‘Just so y’all aware – in the HISTORY of the Olympics NO ONE has ever been stripped of their medal for this.
‘Also – there are only TWO ways you can be stripped of a medal. Cheating or doping. She did neither.’
Chiles poses with her bronze and gold medal which she also won as part of Team USA during the team gymnastics competition
Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles pose with their medals after the artistic gymnastics women’s floor event
Jordan Chiles shows her medals after ringing the closing bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York’s Times Square
Jazmin Chiles promptly hit out on social media after the ruling about her sister emerged
Chiles teammate, Suni Lee, also blasted the ruling. Lee and Chiles were also on Team USA together during the Tokyo Olympics.
‘All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges??’ Lee said on social media. ‘Completely unacceptable. This is awful and I’m gutted for Jordan. I got your back forever Jo.’
USA gymnastics legend Simone Biles is close with Chiles as well, featuring the duo in a recent Instagram post entitled ‘red, white, Biles & Chiles.’
The removal of Chiles bronze also doubles as a nixing of the first all-black Olympic gymnastics podium in history.
Upon landing back in Romania after the event’s conclusion, Barbosu spoke out about temporarily falling to fourth place.
‘I want everyone to be fair and not throw stones at athletes of any nationality. We as athletes only want to perform as well as we can and be rewarded for our results.
‘The problem was on the judging side – how they calculated and decided the scores,’ she said.
Gymnastics fans have been critical of one of the sport’s legends, Nadia Comaneci, for supporting the athletes pushed down in the standings after Chiles’ inquiry.
Comaneci has attempted to argue for the mental health of all athletes, while Team USA fans believe her support has been disproportionate, with Chiles getting less support.
