JOrdan Chiles’ bronze medal in the women’s floor exercise final was one of the most dramatic moments of the Paris Olympics. She made it to the podium after her coaches made a query about the calculation of her difficulty score and the judges agreed that her original score, which placed her in fifth place, was incorrect. The new score was 0.1 higher, which was enough to put her in third place.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation and its gymnasts Ana Maria Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who initially competed in Third and fourth contested the request filed by Chiles and her coach. The parties, including USA Gymnastics and the International Olympic Committee, appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to seek arbitration. The Romanians claimed that Chiles’ request was filed after the one-minute deadline had passed after she completed her routine – it was filed one minute and four seconds later. The Romanians also wanted to overturn the penalty imposed on Maneca-Voinea. They demanded that all three gymnasts be awarded the bronze medal.
On August 10, CAS ruled that Chiles’ request was no longer valid after the one-minute deadline had expired and her original score should be restored. The other requests were rejected.
It is now up to the International Gymnastics Federation to determine the final ranking of the floor exercise final based on the CAS decision.
In a statement, USA Gymnastics said: “We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling on the women’s floor exercise. The investigation into the difficulty of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise was submitted in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with (the International Gymnastics Federation’s) rules to ensure accurate scoring. Throughout the appeal process, Jordan was subjected to constant, completely unfounded and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. No athlete should be subjected to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who carry them out, support or instigate them. We commend Jordan for her conduct with integrity both on and off the competition floor and we continue to stand by and support her.”
