In the midst of the controversy surrounding the Team USA star’s bronze medal in the floor exercise, Simone Biles is standing by her partner Jordan Chiles.
After Chiles’ coach’s appeal that propelled her onto the podium in the gymnastics floor exercise was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Romania’s Ana Barbosu is expected to take Chiles’ place as the Olympic bronze medallist.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) allotted a 1-minute window, but on Saturday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) determined that U.S. coach Cecile Landi’s on-floor appeal to have.1 added to Chiles’ score—which moved Chiles from fifth to third—came outside of that window. Landi’s appeal was received by the ad hoc committee 1 minute, 4 seconds after the score was announced.
According to CAS, Chiles should finish fifth, Barbosu third, and teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth. That was the original finishing order. In addition, the organization stated that FIG should establish the ultimate ranking “in accordance with the above decision,” but it deferred to FIG to decide who would receive the medal following Brazilian gold medallist Rebeca Andrade and American silver medallist Simone Biles.
On Instagram, Biles addressed the controversy by writing, “Jordan, I’m sending you so much love.” Olympic champion, keep your chin up! We adore you!
FIG spokesperson Meike Behrensen promised a statement from the group “in due course” in an email to The Associated Press, but she did not provide a date.
Three bronze medals were requested by the Romanian Olympic Committee. In response to the decision, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of Romania declared that “the truth ultimately triumphed” and that “justice has been served.”
For all three athletes, it has been a challenging few days, and now there is an additional layer to the decision. Nadia Comaneci, the 1976 Olympic champion and a legend in Romanian gymnastics, was concerned about Barbosu’s mental state due to the extremely painful sequence that saw her drop from first place to fourth.
“It’s unbelievable that we play with athletes’ emotions and mental health in this way.” Earlier this week, Comaneci wrote on X, “let’s protect them.”
Simultaneously, Comaneci chastised the judges for how they scored Maneca-Voinea’sroutine,claiming that she barely missed going out of bounds despite receiving a 0.1 point deduction. The Romanian Olympic Committee complied with Comaneci’s request to protest, but CAS rejected the appeal.
In an Instagram story on Saturday, Chiles alluded to the choice, saying she was devastated and was “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”
After finishing with identical scores of 13.700 in Monday’s floor final, Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left outside the medals. Barbosu started to celebrate with a Romanian flag, believing she had defeated Maneca-Voinea for bronze through a tiebreaker — a higher execution score.
As the final competitor, Chiles’ initial score of 13.666 put her in fifth place, just behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi demanded that Chiles’ score be investigated.
We had nothing to lose at this point, so I thought, “We’re just going to try,” Landi remarked following the awards show. I turned around and was like, “What?” when I heard her scream because, to be honest, I didn’t think it would.
The appeal was granted by the judges, moving Chiles up to the final podium position ahead of Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea.
USA Gymnastics expressed its “devastation” over the decision in a statement.
The organization stated, “We believe that the investigation into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and in compliance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring.”
Following the late switch, the 23-year-old Chiles became the target of racist comments and requests on social media for her to return the medal. Earlier this week, Chiles wrote on X, saying, “It’s funny how people can still never be happy for someone.”
Once back in Romania, Barbosu made it clear that she didn’t mind working with Chiles.
Barbosu said to reporters, “I only want everyone to be fair; we don’t want to start picking on other athletes of any nationality.” “Athletes want only to perform to the best of our abilities and be rewarded for it; we don’t deserve anything like that.” The judges’ calculations and choices are the source of the issues.
In a post, Gina Chiles, the mother of Chiles, addressed the critics, stating that she was “weary” of the disparaging remarks made about Jordan.
Gina Chiles shared on social media, “My daughter is an outstanding Olympian with an unrivaled heart and level of sportsmanship.” Moreover, she is receiving derogatory names.
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