American gymnast Jordan Chiles might lose the Olympic bronze medal she won on floor exercise after the Court of Arbitration (CAS) for Sport voided the inquiry that led her to jump from fifth place to third. The ruling on Saturday opens the door for Romania’s Ana Barbosu to replace Chiles as bronze medalist.
CAS ruled that the appeal by U.S. coach Cecile Landi to have .1 added to Chiles’ score that vaulted Chiles from fifth to third came outside the 1-minute window allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
In its decision, CAS wrote that the initial finishing order should be restored, with Barbosu third, teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth. The organization added the FIG should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the above decision.”
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Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left outside the medals in Monday’s floor final after finishing with matching scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze over Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker — a higher execution score — and began celebrating with a Romanian flag.
Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially was given a score of 13.666 which put her in fifth place, right behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi called for an inquiry on her score, and after a review, judges boosted Chiles’ total by 0.1. That was enough to leapfrog Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea for the last spot on the podium.
“It was a surreal moment … I saw the score change and I was just like ‘What is going on? Is this real? Is this happening?’ I was just, again, in that moment just very happy and obviously happy for the other athletes as well,” Chiles told “CBS Mornings” on Friday.
Teammate Simone Biles won silver and Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade won gold.
USA Gymnastics said in a statement it was “devastated” by the ruling.
“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 wrote.
Chiles also won a gold medal in the women’s team final, completing their “redemption tour” after the team won silver in Tokyo. But this isn’t the end of her gymnastics career. She plans to return to UCLA and compete for the Bruins.