American gymnast Jordan Chiles must return the bronze medal after the sport’s highest court rejected an on-floor appeal from Chiles’s coach that placed her in third, the International Olympic Committee said Sunday.
The IOC said Sunday it would reallocate the bronze awarded to Chiles in last Monday’s women’s floor final to Romanian Ana Barbosu after the Court of Arbitration (CAS) for Sport voided an appeal on Saturday by Team USA coach Cecil Landi made during last week’s competition, the Associated Press reported.
In its ruling Saturday, the CAS said Landi’s appeal to have 0.1 added to Chiles’s score was outside of the 1-minute window granted by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), the AP reported. Landi’s appeal came 1 minute and 4 seconds after Chiles’s initial score was posted, the CAS said.
Chiles initially received a score of 13.666, which placed her in fifth before her coach called for an inquiry.
The initial finishing order should be resorted, the CAS wrote in its ruling Saturday, with Barbosu in third, Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea in fourth and Chiles in fifth, the news wire reported. The CAS left it up to the FIG to determine the bronze medal winner behind Brazilian gold winner Rebeca Andrade and U.S.A. silver medalist Simone Biles.
The FIG on Saturday said it was up to the IOC, which confirmed Sunday it would respect the federation’s decision.
USA Gymnastics, in conjunction with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, issued a statement on the ruling and the subsequent backlash Chiles has faced throughout the process.
“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,” they said.
“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.”
Chiles, a two-time Olympian, posted twice on her Instagram story Saturday, the first showing a black background with four heartbreak emojis, followed by a second post that read, “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health. Thank you.”
Chiles’s U.S. teammates rallied in support of her on social media.
“Sending you so much love Jordan,” Biles posted on her Instagram story. “Keep your chin up ‘Olympic champ’ we love you.”
“All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?” Olympic medalist Sunisa Lee also wrote on Instagram. “Completely unacceptable, this is awful and I’m gutted for jordan.”
The Associated Press contributed.
