U.S gymnast Jordan Chiles may have to return the bronze medal she won at the 2024 Paris Olympics following an appeal filed by the Romanian team, which finished fourth and fifth in the women’s floor exercise event.
During the August 6 event, Chiles initially earned a score of 13.666, which would have placed her fifth in the competition, behind eventual gold medal winner Rebeca Andrade, silver medalist and teammate Simone Biles, and a pair of Romanian gymnasts, Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Voinea.
However, after scoring, Chiles’ coaches filed an appeal to the judges, arguing that the routine’s level of difficult — and thus 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 surpass Barbosu and Voinea’s 13.700, giving her the bronze at the last-minute and resulting in the first-ever all-Black medal podium in Olympics gymnastics.
After the medal ceremony, the Romanian team filed its own appeal, first noting that an out-of-bounds penalty against Voinea that cost her 0.1 points might not have occurred — which would give that gymnast a 13.800, and the bronze — as well as that the appeal made by Chiles’ coaches occurred outside the time limit provided to question the judges’ scores.
On Saturday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which rules on these matters, agreed with the Romanians’ latter point: Coaches have one minute to appeal a score after judging, and CAS found that Team USA’s appeal came after one minute and four seconds, and thus the CAS voided Team USA’s appeal and dropped Chiles’ score back down to 13.666 and fifth place.
“We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise,” USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee said in a statement.
“The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise route was filed in good faith and, we believe, in accordance to FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring.”
In the aftermath of Chiles’ bronze win, many Romanians — including gymnastics great Nadia Comaneci and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who said he would boycott the Olympics’ closing ceremony over the situation — turned to social media to bemoan the results.
“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,” U.S. Gymnastics’ statement added.
“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.”
Following the CAS ruling, Chiles herself wrote on Instagram that she would be avoiding social media for the foreseeable future. “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health thank you,” she wrote in a message accompanied by broken heart emojis.
As of now, the Olympics haven’t announced the fate of Chiles’ bronze medal, whether she’ll have to return it or — as the Romanians suggested in their appeal — all three gymnasts (Chiles, Barbosu and Voinea) all receive bronzes.
Chiles, who Rolling Stone profiled prior to the Paris Olympics, also won a gold medal as part of Team USA’s team all-around win.