In the Summer Olympics floor exercise in Paris, officials demoted Jordan Chiles to fifth place and restored Romanian Ana Barbosu to third place, leaving USA Gymnastics “devastated” and devastated on Saturday.
Chiles started the competition, which took place on Monday at Bercy Arena, with a score of 13.666, good for fifth place. After that, coach Cecil Landi requested an investigation into the score, and the judges supported the appeal.
Chiles received an improved score of 13.766 as a result of the decision, better than the combined 13.700 of Barbosu and fellow Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea. Had Landi not inquired, Barbosu—who scored higher on execution than Maneca-Voinea—would have taken home the bronze.
Chiles was overjoyed with the outcome. When she found out she would be standing on the podium with her U.S. teammate who placed second, she broke down in tears of happiness and leaped into the arms of Simone Biles and her coaches.
Borbosu was crushed in the interim. She wrapped the Romanian flag around her shoulders and grinned at first. Then she burst into tears when she found out she had been demoted to fourth place.
First announced on Saturday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport stated that Landi’s on-floor appeal took place 4 seconds after the International Gymnastics Federation’s allotted one-minute window.
The court further declared that Chiles should be dropped to fifth place and the original finishing order should be reinstated.
In response to their decision, the court deferred to the federation to decide on the final ranking and medal assignment.
The federation announced shortly after the court’s decision that Chiles’ starting score of 13.666 was restored and that the floor exercise final ranking had been adjusted.
After hearing the news, Chiles announced she was taking a break from social media for her “mental health” and shared sad emojis on her Instagram story.
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision concerning women’s floor exercise has devastated us,” the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, along with USA Gymnastics, expressed.
“In order to ensure accurate scoring, we believe that the investigation into the difficulty value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and in compliance with [federation] rules.”
Chiles, according to the officials, “has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media,” and they promised to support him.
It’s unclear if Chiles, who went back to the US, will have to give her bronze medal back. Three bronze medals were originally requested by the Romanian Gymnastics Federation.
The International Olympic Committee is in charge of assigning medals. When contacted for comment, the IOC did not answer right away.
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