American gymnast Jordan Chiles may have to return the bronze medal she won at the 2024 Paris Olympics after an appeal by the Romanian team that finished fourth and fifth in the women's floor exercise.
During the event on August 6, Chiles initially received a score of 13.666, which would have placed her fifth in the competition, behind gold medalist Rebecca Andrade, silver medalist and teammate Simone Biles, and a duo of Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Voinia.
However, after scoring, Chiles' coaches appealed to the judges, arguing that the difficulty level of the routine—and therefore the score—was incorrect; the judges agreed, and when the score was adjusted by 0.1, Chiles' new score of 13.766 was enough to overtake the 13.700 earned by Barboso and Voinya, giving her the bronze medal at the last minute, resulting in the first all-black medal podium in Olympic gymnastics.
After the medal ceremony, the Romanian team filed its own appeal, initially arguing that Voinia's 0.1-point penalty might not have occurred — which would have given her 13.800 points and the bronze medal — and that the Chiles' coaches' appeal occurred outside the time limit for questioning the judges' scores.
On Saturday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which rules on such matters, agreed with the final point raised by the Romanians: that coaches have one minute to appeal the result after the verdict. CAS found that the US team's appeal came after one minute and four secondsConsequently, the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the USA team's appeal and reduced Chiles' score to 13.666 and fifth place.
“We are shocked by the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling on women’s floor exercise,” USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in a statement.
“The investigation into the difficulty value of Jordan Chiles’ training course was made in good faith, and we believe it was done in accordance with the International Golf Federation’s rules to ensure that the scores were recorded accurately.”
In the wake of Chile's bronze medal win, many Romanians – including top gymnast Nadia Comaneci and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who said he would boycott the Olympics closing ceremony over the situation – took to social media to denounce the results.
“During the appeal process, Jordan was subjected to continued, unfounded and extremely hurtful attacks on social media,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement. “No athlete should be subjected to such treatment.”
“We condemn these attacks and those who participate in, support or incite them. We commend Jordan for acting with integrity both on and off the court, and we continue to support her.”
Following the CAS ruling, Chiles wrote on Instagram that she would be avoiding social media for the foreseeable future. “I will take this opportunity to stay off social media for the sake of my mental health, thank you,” she wrote in a message accompanied by a broken heart emoji.
The Olympics have not yet announced the fate of Çelis' bronze medal, whether it should be returned or – as the Romanians suggested in their appeal – all three gymnasts (Çelis, Barbosu and Voinia) should receive bronze medals.
Chili's, who Rolling Stone He was highlighted ahead of the Paris Olympics, also winning the gold medal as part of Team USA's victory in the all-around competition.
