Paris Olympics: Jordan Chiles could be stripped of bronze medal on technicality

PARIS — American gymnast Jordan Chiles could be stripped of her bronze medal in the floor exercise after the Court of Arbitration for Sport concluded that the appeal of her score was filed after the one-minute allowable time limit.

As such, Chiles’ score has been dropped from 13.766 to her original 13.666. That is lower than Romania’s Ana Barbosa, who scored a 13.700 — the third highest. CAS directed the Federation of International Gymnastics to “determine the rankings of the floor exercise and assign the medal(s) in accordance with the [CAS] decision.”

Late Saturday night, the FIG confirmed the CAS ruling and that Chiles’ score would return to its original 13.666 and that Barbosa would return to third.

“The ranking of the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Floor Exercise Finals has been modified accordingly with Ana Barbosu (ROU) ranking third with a score of 13.700,” the FIG said on its website.

What the FIG ruling did not say is what place Chiles finished and what, if anything, will happen to the bronze medal Chiles received on Aug. 5.

It is a significant decision based on the most arcane of rules.

Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, originally filed an appeal of Chiles’ score when she believed the judges failed to properly score Chiles’ degree of difficulty. Landi believed the judges failed to notice Chiles performed a split leap — or a tour jete full, in gymnastics parlance — and gave her a 5.800 difficulty score rather than a proper 5.900.

The judges, upon review, agreed and elevated Chiles’ score which moved her from fifth place to third.

It was a crushing blow to Barbosa, who had begun to celebrate her medal and was waving a Romanian flag to cheering fans when the appeal decision dropped her to fourth.

The Romanians cried foul, including legendary Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci, who said it was unfair and mentally unhealthy to Barbosa how the decision played out.

Now the CAS has ruled that Landi did not file the inquiry in a quick enough manner. It neither overruled the appeal decision nor said that Chiles’ new score was inaccurate, it simply pointed to a rule that requires all inquiries to be filed verbally within one minute of the end of a routine.

“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 FIG technical regulations and is determined to be without effect,” the CAS ruling reads.

USA Gymnastics blasted the CAS ruling, noting the precise timing of the inquiry is not nearly as important as getting the actual score correct. They condemned online attacks against Chiles after she jumped ahead of Barbosa.

“We are 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,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement.

Chiles was awarded the medal after Monday’s floor final. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won the gold and U.S. teammate Simone Biles took silver. On the podium, the three gymnasts created one of the indelible images of the Paris Olympics when Biles and Chiles bowed to Andrade as a sign of respect and sportsmanship.

“She’s an icon, a legend herself,” Chiles said on Monday. “I feel like being recognized is what everybody should do, [especially] somebody who has put in the work, put in the dedication. … Not only has she given Simone her flowers [through the years], but a lot of us on the United States [team] our flowers, as well.

“So giving it back is what makes it so beautiful,” Chiles said. “I felt like it was needed.”

Chiles is back in the United States and the process of her returning her bronze medal, if necessary, is unknown.

The inquiry process in gymnastics is unique. It requires a “verbal inquiry” to a score one minute after posting of the score. It must be electronically “confirmed” within four minutes. USAG also had to agree to pay to the Federation of International Gymnastics the amount of 300 Swiss Francs — or $351.10 in US dollars — if the inquiry was denied.

“I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen,” Landi said of the inquiry.

Yet it did. Landi had her back to the scoreboard but Chiles was watching closely. When the extra 0.1 came through, she was elevated to bronze, emitting a huge shout of delight.

“When I heard her scream, I turned around and was like, ‘What?'” Landi said.

“I was so excited,” Chiles said after, clutching her bronze medal.

Romania had rallied behind Barbosa, heartbroken at the images of the bronze medal celebration being cut short by the appeal process. “I can’t believe we play with athletes’ emotions like this,” Comaneci said on social media.

Romanian president Marcel Ciolacu had stated he would boycott Sunday’s closing ceremonies over the situation.

That left Chiles to come under attack online, which USA Gymnastics condemned on Saturday.

“Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media,” USAG said. “No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her.”