In a matter of hours, Jordan Chiles saw her gymnastics floor score reversed and her bronze medal gone despite her incredible performance at the 2024 Olympics. But how did it happen and why?
The saga came to a head during the final weekend of the Paris Games.
Here’s an explainer on what happened.
How did Jordan Chiles initially end up with the bronze?
Chiles qualified third in women’s floor exercise and competed last in the eight-woman final, where the order was determined randomly in advance.
The 23-year-old finished her routine and was awarded a 13.666, which was fifth just behind Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea at 13.700.
Cecile Landi, who is Chiles’ personal coach and also served as coach for Team USA in Paris, appealed to the judges to have an element restored to Chiles’ routine.
Judges approved the appeal, boosting Chiles’ score by .1, good enough for Chiles to earn her third career Olympic medal to go with the team silver she won in Tokyo in 2021 and the team gold she helped the U.S. capture in Paris.
How did Romania appeal Jordan Chiles’ score?
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation asked CAS to review the procedure surrounding Landi’s appeal of Chiles’ score.
International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) guidelines require coaches to make any appeal of a score within one minute of the score being posted.
CAS ruled that Landi officially made her appeal in one minute, four seconds, just past the one-minute deadline.
The appeal on Chiles was granted, with CAS ruling that Chiles’ score should be dropped back down to 13.666 and that the initial order of finish should be restored.
Will Jordan Chiles have to return her bronze medal?
Yes.
CAS wrote in its ruling that the FIG shall determine the final ranking, but added that FIG should assign the medal “in accordance with” the CAS decision. The FIG placed Barbosu third, Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth.
The FIG said while the initial order was restored, it was up to the IOC to determine what would happen with the medals.
The IOC announced the bronze would indeed go to Barbosu and that it would work with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to have the bronze awarded to Chiles returned.
The decision is in line with how the IOC typically views medal allocation.
At the Olympics, the governing body of each sport manages the competition and decides the results. The IOC typically accepts that result — once appeals to CAS are completed — and formally awards the medals.
Can the US appeal?
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee says it plans to try, but it’s unclear what the exact process would be. The two potential places the USOPC could take the appeal would be to Switzerland’s highest court, the Swiss Tribunal, or the European Court of Human Rights.
“The initial error occurred in the scoring by FIG, and the second error was during the CAS appeal process, where the USOPC was not given adequate time or notice to effectively challenge the decision,” said the USOPC statement, which was released Sunday.
What happened with Sabrina Maneca-Voinea?
While Barbosu was relatively quiet in the aftermath, Maneca-Voinea was not.
She used her social media accounts to highlight what she believed was incorrect scoring during her routine. The judging panel dinged her 0.1 point for stepping out of bounds while spinning around to start a tumbling pass.
Video evidence seemed to indicate that Maneca-Voinea’s heel did not actually step on the boundary. The Romanian federation asked CAS to restore 0.1 to Maneca-Voinea’s score for a penalty that was given to her “without basis.”
The request was denied in part because Maneca-Voinea’s coach did not appeal the score in real-time during the meet.
What do the gymnasts think of this?
Chiles, who left Paris earlier this week to return home to the U.S., went dark on social media shortly before the CAS decision became public.
Chiles posted on X not long after the final that “it’s funny how some people can still never be happy for someone.”
But in her Instagram story Saturday, the Olympic gymnast posted a series of broken heart emojis and said she’d be “removing myself from social media for my mental health.”
The two-time Olympian had been subject to attacks on her various social media platforms in recent days, with some critics suggesting she give the medal back.
USA Gymnastics, in a joint statement with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, said Chiles had been subject to “consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media.”
“No athlete should be subject to such treatment,” the statement read, in part. “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.”
Maneca-Voinea put together an aggressive campaign on social media, asking for justice.
Barbosu asked for calm earlier in the week, blaming the judging panel and not the gymnasts.
The Paris Olympics served as a comeback of sorts for one of the sport’s former superpowers. The Romanian program medaled in the team final in 10 straight Olympics between 1976-2012 before falling on hard times over the last decade. When Barbosu and her teammates walked onto the floor for qualifying on July 28, it marked her country’s first appearance under the rings in 12 years.
“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,” Barbosu said after returning to Romania. “The problems lie with the judges, with their calculations and decisions.”
American star and two-time Olympic champion Simone Biles encouraged Chiles — a longtime friend — to “keep her chin up.” U.S. standout and six-time Olympic medalist Sunisa Lee chimed in late Saturday, putting the onus on the judges and calling the outcome “unacceptable.”