Jordan Chiles loses Olympic bronze after judge overturns score change
Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal on the floor exercise at the Paris gymnastics competition will be awarded to Ana Bărbosu of Romania, the International Olympic Committee said in a statement on Sunday, after a court ruling invalidated a correction to Chiles’ score that had put her on the podium.
“The IOC will re-allocate 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-allocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”
In Monday’s floor exercise final, Chiles was the last competitor and initially scored a 13.666, which placed her in fifth place, less than a tenth of a point shy of bronze. But her coach, Cecile Landi, filed an investigation to challenge the difficulty score Chiles had been given. The judges agreed and changed her score to 13.766, putting her ahead of Bărbosu and her Romanian teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.
But the Romanian team later filed a petition with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, claiming that Landi’s examination fell outside the one-minute time frame allowed for such a challenge. The court agreed, voiding Chiles’ score, and the International Gymnastics Federation, known as FIG, subsequently announced that it had officially changed the competition’s rankings, returning Chiles to fifth place.
The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee plans to appeal the CAS decision, it said in a statement Sunday. The USOPC said there were “critical errors” in both the FIG scoring and the CAS appeals process.
“The first error occurred in FIG’s review, and the second error occurred during the CAS appeals process, where the USOPC was not given adequate time or notice to effectively challenge the decision,” the USOPC said. “As a result, we were not properly represented or given the opportunity to comprehensively present our case.”
“Given these circumstances, we are determined to file an appeal to help Jordan Chiles get the recognition she deserves.”
Chiles posted two Instagram stories on Saturday following the verdict: one with four broken heart emojis and a second that read, “I’m taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”
Barbosa shared her reaction to the news with Golazo.ro, and said her thoughts went out to Chiles and Maneca-Voinea. “I know very well that it hurts, because I have been through the same things. 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. That is my dream.”
Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles celebrate their medals in the floor exercise final on Monday. A rules issue now forces Chiles to strip her bronze. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Chiles, 23, had already had a week of bad luck at the Olympics. She finished fourth in the all-around qualification, but two of the three ahead of her were American teammates Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee. The Olympics only allow two competitors per country to advance to the all-around final, meaning Chiles was left out. Still, she played a big part in helping the Americans win gold in the team all-around and came to cheer on Biles and Lee in the individual event.
A few days later, she was in the floor exercise final. When her score was corrected, Biles hugged her in a bear hug and the two celebrated what appeared to be Chiles’ first career individual medal. She has spent the week since enjoying the perks of being an Olympic medalist: celebrating, visiting Disneyland Paris and doing morning shows.
Then came the CAS ruling. The problem was the timing of the investigation — which came four seconds late — not the score correction itself. Because judges initially missed the correct score, and because the U.S. team didn’t challenge it quickly enough, Chiles will now be forced to forfeit the bronze, even though the content of her routine is worth a higher score.
The episode highlighted the confusing and sometimes complicated nature of judged sports and the emotional charge that comes with 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 off the track at a point in her routine. It was dismissed even though video footage appeared to show her staying within the track.
The Romanians also requested that CAS award bronze medals to all three competitors — each of whom had arguments to stand ahead of the other. That was denied.
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(Photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
