Jordan Chiles likely to lose her bronze medal after appeal ruling

Jordan Chiles cried in her coach’s arms, stood on an Olympic podium with a bronze medal around her neck and is memorialized in one of the viral moments of these 2024 Summer Games when she joined Simone Biles bowing to gold medalist Rebeca Andrade.

A court ruled Saturday that none of it should have happened.

After a judging inquiry boosted Chiles from fifth place to third in the women’s floor exercise final on Monday, the Romanian gymnastics federation filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport arguing the timing of the inquiry that awarded Chiles the decisive additional tenth. In a partial acceptance of the petition published Saturday, the Court ruled that Chiles’ inquiry came in four seconds too late and that her original score of 13.666 should stand.

It will be up to the International Gymnastics Federation to rank and determine the medals of the women’s floor exercise event according to the Court’s ruling.

With her original score reinstated, Chiles would stand fifth behind Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who tied with a score of 13.700. Barbosu was in line to receive the bronze medal before the inquiry was accepted because of a tiebreaker process that prioritized her higher execution score.

Coaches are given a window of one minute to inquire about a score after it is revealed. The Romanian gymnastics federation argued in the petition that the U.S. inquiry took one minute and four seconds.

“We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise,” USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee said in a joint statement released Saturday. “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.

“Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media,” the statement continued. “No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her.”

Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said he would boycott the closing ceremony because of the original decision that kept the Romanian gymnasts off the podium. Gina Chiles, Jordan’s mother, posted on X her daughter was getting attacked in the aftermath of the floor competition.

“The racist disgusting comments are still happening in 2024,” she continued. “I’m tired of people who say it no longer exists.”

Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, inquired about Chiles’ difficulty score, arguing she did not get full credit for a leap that requires her to complete a 540-degree turn in the air. Chiles was the last gymnast to compete on the floor exercise and when her initial score put her in fifth place, Barbosu started celebrating the bronze-medal finish with a Romanian flag. She was shuffled off the competition floor after Chiles’ score was changed.

The bronze medal was Chiles’ first individual Olympic medal. She has silver and gold medals from the team competition in 2021 and 2024, respectively. She announced this week she plans to return to UCLA for her final two seasons of eligibility.