US Appeals Court Removes Jordan Chiles’ Bronze Medal

The U.S. gymnastics team has decided to appeal the decision to remove gymnast Jordan Chiles’ Olympic bronze medal in the floor exercise at the Paris Games.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu will receive the bronze after a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling determined that USA Gymnastics’ inquiry about Chiles’ score came too late.

The statement said, “The head coach’s request to file an inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after the score was published, meeting the 1-minute deadline set by the International Gymnastics Federation rule.”

“The video evidence submitted by USA Gymnastics shows Landi making the inquiry request at the inquiry table 47 seconds after the score was posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the initial score,” the team added.

USA Gymnastics stated that the footage was not provided to them before the tribunal’s decision that led to Chiles losing the medal to Barbosu.

Related Stories

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) stated that Chiles’ original score of 13.666 will be reinstated, and Barbosu’s score of 13.700 will be adjusted to third place after the review.

The IOC mentioned, “Following the [the court’s decision with regard to the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Floor Exercise Final and the amendment of the ranking by the International Gymnastics Federation, the IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Barbosu (Romania).”

They continued, “We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”

Barbosu initially celebrated her score of 13.700 before Chiles was given an additional 0.1 after the review, securing her the bronze medal.

The decision caused controversy within Romania, with the prime minister considering not attending the Closing Ceremony held on Sunday. Romania’s 1976 Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci also criticized the decision.

Comaneci expressed, “I can’t believe we play with athletes’ mental health and emotions like this … let’s protect them,” in a post last week.

She also mentioned that video footage shows another Romanian gymnast, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, was unfairly penalized for stepping out of bounds when she did not.

Previously, USA Gymnastics expressed being “devastated” by the ruling on Chiles.

“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,” the organization stated.

Upon returning to Romania, Barbosu stated that she has no issue with Chiles.

“I only want for everybody to be fair, we don’t want to start picking on other athletes of any nationality,” Barbosu told reporters.

She added, “We as athletes don’t deserve something like that, we only want to perform as best as we can and to be rewarded based on our performance. The problems lie with the judges, with their calculations and decisions.”

Chiles, on the other hand, mentioned that she will be taking a break from social media for her mental health.

The U.S. gymnastics women previously won a team gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.