PARIS — Two-time Olympian Jordan Chiles earned the first individual Olympic medal of her career six days ago, a bronze in the floor final. On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee said Chiles must return that medal, which will be reallocated to Romania’s Ana Barbosu. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee plans to appeal the decision.
So, how’d we get here?
Chiles competed last in Monday’s floor final and her initial score of 13.666 placed her fifth. Barbosu and her teammate, Sabrina Voinea, earned identical scores of 13.7, but Barbosu’s higher execution score placed her ahead of Voinea. Barbosu began celebrating the bronze while Team USA head coach Cecile Landi filed an inquiry into Chiles’ score.
Coaches may inquire into a gymnast’s difficulty score, but not their execution score. Knowing Chiles was awarded one-tenth lower than her maximum D-score, Landi inquired and the judges accepted her inquiry, awarding Chiles an additional one-tenth, which elevated her score to 13.766 and put her in third place.
Chiles was awarded the bronze in a medal ceremony that has become one of the most iconic of these Games, as she and silver medalist Simone Biles bowed to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade when she stepped to the top of the podium to receive her gold.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation then filed a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport — the independent body formed by the IOC to settle disputes like this — over the way the inquiry was made.
What was the basis of the complaint?
Here’s the thing: It had nothing to do with Chiles’s performance or her score, really. The RGF argued that Landi filed the inquiry after the one-minute deadline to do so. To follow that reasoning, if Landi filed the inquiry even a few seconds late, the judges should not have accepted it and therefore would have had no opportunity to amend Chiles’ score.
What did the CAS rule?
The court ruled Saturday that the inquiry submitted on Chiles’ behalf “was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline” and should not have been accepted. It reinstated Chiles’ original score of 13.666, then moved the matter to the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
What was the response to the decision?
Chiles posted three broken heart emojis on her Instagram story Saturday and said she was taking a social media break for her mental health. Her teammates posted support for her. “What about the judges?” Sunisa Lee asked. “Don’t punish the athlete for someone else’s mistake,” Jade Carey wrote on Instagram.
In a joint statement, the USOPC and USA Gymnastics said they were “devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise. 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.”
What did the FIG decide?
Because of the CAS decision, the FIG officially amended the final ranking of the floor final and put Romania’s Barbosu back in third, Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth.
What happens to Chiles’ medal?
The FIG handed that decision off to the IOC, which makes rulings regarding medal allocations. In a statement, the committee said that following the CAS and FIG decisions, “the IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Barbosu (Romania). We are in touch with the [National Olympic Committee] of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”
What now?
The USOPC said Sunday that it will appeal the decision. It is not asking Chiles to return the medal without a fight. “We firmly believe that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the subsequent CAS appeal process that need to be addressed,” the USOPC said in its statement. “We are committed to pursuing an appeal to ensure that Jordan Chiles receives the recognition she deserves.”
Later in the day Sunday, USA Gymnastics put out a statement saying that it had submitted a letter and video evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport that they say shows that the inquiry submitted on Chiles behalf came within the 1-minute deadline.
