Jordan Chiles may be forced to relinquish her Olympic bronze medal in the floor exercise after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in favor of two Romanian gymnasts on August 10.
Chiles, 23, secured her first individual Olympic medal on August 5 after initially finishing fifth in the floor final. Her coach, Cecile Landi, successfully challenged the original scoring, arguing that Chiles’ difficulty score had been incorrectly calculated, particularly concerning a complex leap with a 540-degree turn. The adjustment moved Chiles into third place, bumping Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea down to fourth and fifth, respectively.
However, the Romanian Olympic committee protested the score adjustment, and CAS ruled to reinstate Chiles’ original score of 13.666, placing her back in fifth and returning the bronze medal to Barbosu, who scored 13.700.
“The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique shall determine the ranking of the Final of the women’s Floor exercise and assign the medal(s) in accordance with the above decision,” CAS stated in their ruling.
USA Gymnastics expressed disappointment with the decision, stating, “We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise. 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.”
Before the ruling was released, Chiles posted a series of heartbroken emojis on her Instagram Stories, and after the decision was made public, she announced she would be stepping away from social media for her mental health, saying, “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”
USA Gymnastics also condemned the hateful messages Chiles has received online, with her mother publicly defending her on Friday. “Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless, and extremely hurtful attacks on social media,” the organization stated. “No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her.”
The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee had voiced their protest after the original decision, urging the International Gymnastics Federation to reconsider the scoring. In response to accusations that Chiles “cheated,” her coach, Cecile Landi, defended the decision to challenge the score, stating, “Jordan won this bronze medal and didn’t steal anything from anyone. I simply did my job and fought for my athlete.”
