Jordan Chiles' bronze medal may be withdrawn after appeal by Romania; leaves social media heartbroken
The ruling would undo the first all-Black podium in Olympic gymnastics history
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}American gymnast Jordan Chiles may lose her Olympic bronze medal, which she won in the women's floor exercise final.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the judging panel at the event had improperly granted an inquiry that increased Chiles' score, which moved her into bronze medal position over Romania's Ana Barbosu. The Switzerland-based court ruled that the appeal had been submitted past the one-minute deadline for inquiries and therefore should not have been granted.
Barbosu had initially clinched the bronze medal for floor on Monday and began celebrating on the mat. But then U.S. coaches appealed to judges over Chiles’ score, and a review resulted in a 0.1-point increase, which moved Chiles ahead of Barbosu for the bronze medal.
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Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles of Team United States pose with their Paris 2024 Olympic medals following the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Floor Exercise Final on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 5, 2024, in Paris, France. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
But the Court of Arbitration has now said that Chiles should have received a score of 13.666 in the event, which would've placed her fifth, just shy of the Olympic podium.
USA Gymnastics and USOPCE said in a statement that they were "devastated" by the ruling.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. 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."
Jordan Chiles, right, of the United States, reacts to winning the bronze medal as teammate Simone Biles, left, celebrates during the women's artistic gymnastics individual floor finals at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
The CAS said it was up to the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to decide who will get the medal.
Later on Saturday, the FIG announced that Chiles original score of 13.666 was reinstated and she was bumped back down to fifth place, while Barbosa jumped back up to third place with a score 13.766. The announcement did not specify the status of Chiles' medal.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chiles posted a series of emotional stories on Instagram Saturday in response to the ruling, including one that showed a series of broken heart emojis, and another that included her announcement that she would be leaving social media.
"I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health," Chiles wrote.
OLYMPIC LEGEND NADIA COMANECI SLAMS JUDGES OVER CONTROVERSIAL SCORE CHANGE IN FLOOR EXERCISE
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chiles teammate Suni Lee criticized the judges who had made the erroneous decision, in her own Instagram Stories on Saturday.
"All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?? Completely unacceptable, this is awful and I'm gutted for Jordan," Lee wrote. "I got your back forever Joe, you have all my flowers and you will always be an Olympic champion.
If Chiles is stripped of her medal, she will become only the third gymnast in history to have an Olympic medal stripped. The other two were China's Dong Fangxiao and Romania's Andreea Răducan, both of whom lost their medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Răducan's individual all-around gold medal was stripped after testing positive for a banned substance from cold-medicine pills given to her by a team doctor. China's team all-around bronze was stripped after it was discovered Dong was just 14 years old in Sydney, which is two years too young to compete.
Chiles' bronze resulted in the floor final's podium being the first Olympic gymnastics podium in history to have three Black medalists.
Simone Biles (silver), Brazil's Rebeca Andrade (gold) and the U.S.' Jordan Chiles (bronze) show sportsmanship during the podium ceremony for the artistic gymnastics women's floor exercise event of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on August 5, 2024. (Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images)
Chiles joined U.S. teammate Simone Biles, who won silver, and Brazil's Rebecca Andrade, who won gold. The moment came with a signifying image at the podium, when Biles, 27, and Chiles, 23, bowed on both sides of their Brazilian opponent Andrade, 25, who had raised her fists in celebration.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meanwhile, Barbosu was holding a Romanian flag when she looked up and saw the scoring change on the board. Just then, she dropped the flag, covered her face with her hands and walked away in tears.
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The initial ruling resulted in a wave of backlash. Gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci condemned the score change on social media, and Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Tuesday that he will boycott the Paris Olympics’ closing ceremony over the scoring decision.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee announced on Wednesday that it would be appealing the decision.
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