American gymnast Jordan Chiles has been stripped of her bronze medal on floor exercise and must return the hardware after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided the inquiry that led her to jump from fifth place to third.
On Saturday, CAS ruled that the appeal by U.S. coach Cecile Landi to have .1 added to Chiles’ score that vaulted the 23-year-old into third place came outside the 1-minute window allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). In its decision, CAS wrote that the initial finishing order should be restored, meaning that Romania’s Ana Barbosu would replace Chiles as the bronze medalist. Her teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea would be fourth and Chiles fifth.
Late Saturday night, FIG said it would respect the court’s decision and elevate Barosu to third.
On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee ordered Chiles to return the bronze medal, saying it was reallocating it Barbosu.
The IOC said in a statement it will be in touch with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee regarding the return of Chiles’ bronze and will work with the Romanian Olympic Committee to discuss a reallocation ceremony honoring Barbosu.
The rapid turn of events adds another layer to what has been a difficult few days for all three athletes.
Chiles hinted at the decision in an Instagram story on Saturday, indicating she is heartbroken and is “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”
Jazmin Chiles, Jordan’s sister, said on Instagram that Chiles was stripped of a medal “not because she wasn’t good enough. But because the judges failed to give her difficulty and forced an inquiry to be made.”
U.S. teammates offered support to Chiles, a two-time Olympian.
“Sending you so much love Jordan,” American star Simone Biles posted on Instagram. “Keep your chin up ‘Olympic champ’ we love you.”
Biles won the silver medal at the floor final while Brazilian Rebeca Andrade took gold.
“All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?” six-time Olympic medalist Sunisa Lee added on Instagram. “Completely unacceptable, this is awful and I’m gutted for jordan.”
USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Saturday it is “devastated” by the 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.
Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left outside the medals in Monday’s floor final after finishing with matching scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze over Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker — a higher execution score — and began celebrating with a Romanian flag.
Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially was given a score of 13.666 which put her in fifth place, right behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi called for an inquiry on her score, and after a review, judges boosted Chiles’ total by 0.1. That was enough to leapfrog Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea for the last spot on the podium.
“It was a surreal moment … I saw the score change and I was just like ‘What is going on? Is this real? Is this happening?’ I was just, again, in that moment just very happy and obviously happy for the other athletes as well,” Chiles told “CBS Mornings” on Friday about how everything went down.
Chiles also won a gold medal in the women’s team final, completing their “redemption tour” after the team won silver in Tokyo. But this isn’t the end of her gymnastics career. She plans to return to UCLA and compete for the Bruins.
