The United States is being docked a medal at the Paris Olympics. Six days after American Jordan Chiles won bronze in the floor exercise, the International Olympic Committee is set to enforce the challenge to Chiles’ initial score, which had been erroneously lowered on a technicality, because the challenge came four seconds too late.
And Chiles is, understandably, upset.
Team USA coach Cecile Landi had registered the objection 64 seconds after the judges had issued their score for Chiles, who had initially finished fifth. The change in scoring raised her score by 0.1 points, to 13.766, which was enough to move her past two Romanian gymnasts who had finished fourth and fifth in the event.
The Romanians, though, pitched a fit about the four-second differential, with the prime minister of the nation, Marcel Ciolacu, vowing not to attend the Olympics unless Chiles was stripped of her medal and it was awarded to the fourth-place finisher, Ana Barbosu.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, heard the challenge from the Romanians and changed Chiles’ score back to 13.666, dropping her to fifth. Now, because the IOC has taken up the CAS ruling, and despite the fact that Chiles actually earned the third-best score, she is being stripped of the bronze.
Jordan Chiles Taking Care of ‘Mental Health’
Even before news of the IOC consequences of the CAS ruling broke, Jordan Chiles responded on Instagram, seemingly understanding she would be losing her medal. She posted four broken-hearted emojis. “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health,” she wrote.
USA Gymnastics also issued a statement, reading, “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.
“Throughout the appeal process, Jordan Chiles has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support or instigate them.”
Chiles, who is 23, was part of the gold-medal performance in women’s gymnastics by Team USA last week, and is not in danger of losing that medal. She also won a silver for the team event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, stepping up when Simone Biles left the tournament because of mental health issues.
Stripped Over a 4-Second Differential
It remains unclear how, exactly, Chiles is supposed to return the medal. She has returned to the United States. But the IOC will push the United States Olympics Committee to secure the return of the medal which will then be presented to Barbosu.
Again, Chiles earned the medal. The original penalty she was hit with should not have been applied. The only problem here is four seconds—the fact that the scoring challenge from Landi came in 64 seconds rather than within the 60 seconds the rules require.
The IOC issued a statement on the controversy which read, via NBC Sports:
“Following the CAS decision with regard to the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Floor Exercise Final and the amendment of the ranking by the International Gymnastics Federation, the IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Bărbosu (Romania). We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”
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