Top line
U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles lost her bronze medal on floor on Sunday morning after the International Olympic Committee and the Court of Arbitration for Sport invalidated her appeal against the event’s scoring and the bronze medal went to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu.
The International Olympic Committee announced on Sunday that it will accept a bronze medal to the United States … (+)
Key data
Chiles competed in the individual floor event last Monday and originally achieved a score of 13.666, placing her fifth behind Barbosu and another Romanian gymnast, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.
Chile’s coach Cecile Landi appealed against the score, saying the difficulty level had been underestimated, and won, adding 0.1 points to her and catapulting her into third place. However, the bronze medal was no longer needed for Barbosu, who had already started to celebrate her victory.
But after another appeal by Romania, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport declared on Saturday that the request on behalf of Chile had been submitted “after the one-minute time limit had expired” – four seconds too late – and was therefore invalid.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) then awarded Barbosu third place.
The International Olympic Committee confirmed the decision on Sunday and announced that it would return the bronze medal to the United States and reallocate it to Barbosu.
USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in a statement Saturday that the investigation into Chiles’ difficulty score was “submitted in good faith and, we believe, in accordance with FIG rules,” adding that they stand behind Chiles, who has been subjected to “completely baseless and extremely hurtful attacks” over the scoring issue.
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Important background
After Chiles’ floor exercise on Monday, Landi submitted an inquiry about her difficulty score – the total score of all exercises performed in an exercise that is added to the execution score to give the final score – arguing the judges did not give Chiles full points for a jump in her exercise. The jump consisted of a split while turning 540 degrees and the judges did not give her a score because they felt she did not complete a full turn. However, the inquiry was accepted and Chiles received full points for executing the exercise. It is not uncommon for coaches to submit inquiries about scores, although it is possible they could result in a lower score. After the score change, Chiles praised Barbosu, saying she was “very proud” of her and calling her an “amazing athlete.”
Main critics
Chiles’ teammates on the gold medal-winning team offered her support after the decision, and at least one criticized the situation. Simone Biles posted a picture of her and Chiles on Instagram, saying, “Cheer up, Olympic champion! We love you!” Sunisa Lee, another Team USA gymnast, said on social media, “All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?? Totally unacceptable.” She went on to say that she was “devastated” for Chiles, who she said “will always be an Olympic champion.” Team USA member Jade Carey expressed a similar sentiment, writing on Instagram, “Don’t punish the athlete for someone else’s mistake.”
Key quote
After the arbitration panel announced its decision, Chiles posted four broken heart emojis on her Instagram story and said: “I am taking this time and withdrawing from social media for the sake of my mental health.”
Surprising fact
In their appeal, the Romanian athletes asked for three bronze medals to be awarded – not for Chile’s medals to be stripped. The appeal – which also asked for Maneca-Voinea’s score to be increased because of an obvious scoring error (she was penalized for crossing the field of play, but a replay appears to show she had not done so) – asked for an adjusted ranking of scores that “placed all three athletes in 3rd place and the allocation of medals to all three athletes.” However, the FIG corrected the score and left it up to the IOC to decide whether the medal should be re-awarded, the Associated Press reported.
What you should pay attention to
Comments from Barbosu. After the initial controversy, she told reporters she did not want to “pick on other athletes” and that “the problem lies with the judges, with their calculations and decisions.” As of 10 a.m. EDT Sunday, she had not commented on the reassignment of the bronze medal.
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