The International Olympic Committee declared on Sunday that American gymnast Jordan Chiles had to return her bronze medal from the floor exercise. The committee upheld the decision that a coach’s appeal, which had put her on the podium, was improperly granted.
Prior to U.S. coach Cecile Landi’s successful lobbying to have her athlete’s difficulty score undercredited, Chiles, 23, had placed fifth in the competition on Monday.
Chiles’ score was adjusted by officials on the spot to 13.766, which put her ahead of two Romanian athletes and incited an outcry from their delegation.
Premier of Romania Marcel Ciolacu declared he would boycott the Olympic closing ceremony.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport declared on Sunday that Landi’s protest was made 64 seconds after the scores were announced, and the IOC said it would follow their decision. One minute is the deadline for this kind of action.
The 18-year-old Romanian Ana Bărbosu will now win the bronze medal in the floor exercise.
“After the CAS ruling regarding the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Floor Exercise Final and the International Gymnastics Federation’s modification of the ranking, the IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Bărbosu (Romania),” the IOC stated in a statement on Sunday. “Regarding the return of the bronze medal and the reallocation ceremony, we are in communication with both the Romanian NOC and USOPC.”
A few hours later, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee retaliated, stating that it would be launching an appeal of its own.
It issued a statement saying, “We truly feel that Jordan should have won the bronze medal, and we think that important mistakes should be made in the CAS appeal process as well as the original scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).”
The U.S. committee stated, “In light of these facts, we are dedicated to following up on an appeal to assist Jordan Chiles in getting the credit she merits.” “We are committed to helping her succeed as an Olympic champion and will keep up our hard work to find a quick and equitable solution to this issue.”
It was not immediately apparent whether Chiles would give the medal back in person.
She left France early and made an appearance on Thursday’s “TODAY” show in New York City on NBC.
Chiles continues to hold the gold medal from the women’s team overall. In Tokyo, she took home silver in the team all-around competition.
USA Gymnastics released a statement on Saturday night saying, “The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision regarding women’s floor exercises has devastated us.” “We think the investigation into the It’s hard Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was initiated in good faith and in accordance with FIG rules in order to ensure accurate scoring.”
The athlete has been “often the target of vicious, unfounded, and persistent attacks on social media” since the situation became public, according to the sport’s U.S. governing body.
They declared in the statement that “no athlete should be subjected to such treatment.” “We denounce the attacks and those who participate in, encourage, or incite them. We continue to stand by and support Jordan, and we commend her for acting honorably both on and off the competition floor.
Chiles said she would be taking a break from social media to process this unbelievable turn of events, and she shared four broken-heart emojis on her Instagram on Saturday.
She wrote, “Thank you. For the sake of my mental health, I’m taking some time off from social media.”