Jordan Chiles to lose Olympic bronze medal after court overturns score change; USOPC considers appeal

Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal in the floor exercise at the Paris Games gymnastics competition will be re-awarded to Romania’s Ana Bărbosu, the International Olympic Committee said in a statement on Sunday, after a court ruling invalidated a correction to Chiles’ score that had placed her on the podium.

“The IOC will re-award the bronze medal to Ana Bărbosu (Romania),” the statement said. “We are in contact with the (National Olympic Committee) of Romania to discuss the re-award ceremony and with the USOPC regarding the restitution of the bronze medal.”

In the floor exercise final on Monday, Chiles was the last competitor and initially scored 13.666, which put her in fifth place, less than a tenth of a point away from the bronze medal. But her coach, Cecile Landi, filed a motion to challenge the difficulty score Chiles received. The judges agreed, changing her score to 13.766 and putting her ahead of Bărbosu and Romanian teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.

But the Romanian team then appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, claiming that Landi’s request had exceeded the one-minute time limit allowed for such a challenge. The court ruled in Chiles’ favor, invalidating Chiles’ score, and the International Gymnastics Federation, known as FIG, then announced that it had officially changed the competition standings, moving Chiles down to fifth place.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced Sunday that it intends to appeal the CAS decision. The USOPC argued there were “critical errors” in the FIG’s scoring and the CAS appeal process.

“The initial error occurred during the FIG scoring, and the second error occurred during the appeal proceedings before CAS, where the USOPC was not given sufficient time or notice to effectively challenge the decision,” the USOPC said. “As a result, we were not properly represented or given the opportunity to fully present our case.”

“Given these circumstances, we are committed to appealing to help Jordan Chiles receive the recognition she deserves.”

Chiles posted two Instagram stories after the sentencing on Saturday: one with four broken heart emojis and a second that read: “I’m taking this time and stepping away from social media for my mental health, thank you.”

Bărbosu shared his reaction to Golazo.ro, saying that his thoughts are with Chiles and Maneca-Voinea. “I know very well that it hurts, because I have already gone through the same moments. But I know you and I am sure that you will have the strength to come back even stronger. I sincerely hope that at the next Olympic Games we will be on the same podium. It is my dream.”

Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles celebrate their medals during the floor exercise final on Monday. A technical issue now forces Chiles to relinquish her bronze medal. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

Chiles, 23, had already had a tough week at the Olympics. She finished fourth overall in the all-around qualifying round, but two of the three ahead of her were American teammates Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee. The Olympics only allow two competitors from each country to advance to the all-around final, meaning Chiles was left out. Still, she played a big role in helping the Americans win team all-around gold and showed up to cheer on Biles and Lee in the individual event.

A few days later, she was in the floor exercise finals. When her score was corrected, Biles hugged her and the two celebrated what appeared to be Chiles’ first career individual medal. She spent the next week enjoying the perks of being an Olympic medalist: partying, visiting Disneyland Paris and performing morning shows.

The CAS then issued its decision. The problem was the timing of the inquiry, which came four seconds too late, and not the correction of the score itself. With the judges missing the correct score at the start and the U.S. team failing to challenge the score quickly enough, Chiles will now be forced to relinquish the bronze medal, even though the content of her routine deserved a higher score.

The episode highlighted the confusing and sometimes byzantine nature of sports judging, as well as the emotional toll that comes from a series of small decisions.

CAS rejected part of Romania’s appeal that sought to increase Maneca-Voinea’s score because she was wrongly sent out of bounds during a moment of her routine. The appeal was dismissed even though the video appeared to show she had remained in bounds.

The Romanians also asked the CAS to award each of the three competitors, each having arguments to be better than the other, a bronze medal. This request was rejected.

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(Photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)