The U.S. gymnastics team said it will appeal a decision to strip gymnast Jordan Chiles of her Olympic bronze medal in the floor exercise event of the Paris Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Aug. 11 that it would award the bronze to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, in a decision made after a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling determined that an inquiry made by USA Gymnastics regarding Chiles’s final score was submitted too late.
“Landi’s request to file an inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after the publishing of the score, within the 1-minute deadline required by [the International Gymnastics Federation] rule,” the statement reads.
“The time-stamped, video evidence submitted by USA Gymnastics Sunday evening shows Landi first stated her request to file an inquiry at the inquiry table 47 seconds after the score is posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the score was originally posted.”
USA Gymnastics then stipulated in the statement that the footage wasn’t provided to USA Gymnastics before the tribunal’s decision that resulted in Chiles losing the medal to Barbosu.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) had said over the weekend that Chiles’s initial score of 13.666 would be reinstated after the review and that Barbosu’s score of 13.700 would be improved to third place.
“Following the [the court’s decision with regard to the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Floor Exercise Final and the amendment of the ranking by the International Gymnastics Federation, the IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Barbosu (Romania),” the IOC said in the statement.
“We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”
Last week’s competition finished in dramatic fashion, with Barbosu initially celebrating when she obtained her 13.700 score. But moments later, after the review, 0.1 was added to Chiles’s score, moving her to the bronze medal-winning position.
The decision sparked outrage within Romania, with the prime minister threatening not to attend the Aug. 11 closing ceremony. Romania’s 1976 Olympic champion, Nadia Comaneci, also panned the decision.
“I can’t believe we play with athletes mental health and emotions like this. ... let’s protect them,” Comaneci posted on social media platform X.
At the same time, Comaneci wrote on social media that video replay footage shows that another Romanian gymnast, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, was unfairly penalized for stepping out of bounds when she didn’t.
Previously, USA Gymnastics said in a statement that it was “devastated” by the Chiles 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.
After returning to Romania, Barbosu said 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.”
As for Chiles, the 23-year-old said that she would take a break from social media “for my mental health.”
The U.S. gymnastics women won the team gold medal earlier in the Paris Olympics.
