U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles must return the bronze medal she won in the Paris Olympics floor exercise last week after the sport’s highest court rejected an appeal by Chiles’s coach that vaulted Chiles to third place over Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Sunday.
The IOC confirmed the reallocation of the medal less than 24 hours after the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided an appeal from Chiles’s coach during Monday’s competition, which had resulted in a score change.
“We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”
The ruling from a court Saturday says the American’s inquiry was made outside the allotted time window and is therefore invalid, reverting Chiles’s score to 13.666. Barbosu received a 13.700.
“The inquiry submitted on behalf of Ms Jordan Chiles in the Final of the women’s Floor exercise was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline provided by article 8.5 of the 2024 [International Gymnastics Federation] Technical Regulations and is determined to be without effect,” the court’s decision read in part.
In an apparent reaction to the decision, Chiles wrote on Instagram in a post that she is “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health.”
USA Gymnastics, in a statement Saturday, said that the ruling and “inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with [International Gymnastics Federation] rules to ensure accurate scoring.
“Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless, and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support, or instigate them,” the statement said. “We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her.”
But on Sunday, the team said in a statement it would appeal the decision because it believes “that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation.”
Team USA coach Cecile Landi last week explained why she asked for a review, telling reporters that “at this point, we had nothing to lose, so I was like, ‘We’re just going to try.’”
“I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and was like, ‘What?’” she said. Meanwhile, Chiles told TeamUSA.com that she didn’t “even realize my coaches put in an inquiry” for her score.
Meanwhile, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu wrote on social media that he would not attend the Olympics’ Closing Ceremony on Sunday after Barbosu was denied the podium.
Despite being stripped of the bronze medal, Chiles still has a gold in the team all-around competition that USA won earlier in the competition.
