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Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles was just dealt a devastating blow after taking home bronze at the Paris Olympics.
On August 5, Chiles was awarded the bronze medal at the women's gymnastics floor final, though her victory was not cut and dry. The 23-year-old gymnast was initially granted a score of 13.666, placing her in fifth place behind Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who both earned 13.700. (Brazil's Rebeca Andrade won gold while USA's Simone Biles earned silver.)
Before the athletes made it to the podium, however, Team USA coach Cecile Landi called for judges to review Chiles' score based on the difficulty of her routine. In response, the judges bumped her score up to 13.766, putting her in third place ahead of Barbosu. “At this point, we had nothing to lose, so I was like ‘We’re just going to try,” Landi said of the inquiry, per AP News.
Landi later pushed back against online backlash on Instagram, writing, “Jordan won this bronze medal and didn’t steal anything from anyone. I simply did my job and fought for my athlete.”
Now, it looks like Chiles' original score may be reinstated based on a new ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). On August 10, CAS called on the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to void the results of Landi's inquiry following protests from the the Romanian Olympic committee. According to AP News, CAS decided that the initial rankings should stand because Landi's appeal came after FIG's one-minute deadline.
Chiles seemed to react to the news just before the decision was released to the public by posting a series of broken heart emojis on her Instagram Story. “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health thank you,” she wrote in a follow-up post.
Instagram/@jordanchiles
Instagram/@jordanchiles
USA Gymnastics released a joint statement alongside the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee following the controversial decision. “We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise,” the organizations wrote on X.com. "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."
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