Fans are not happy with the decision of the International Olympic Committee to demand that Jordan Chiles return the bronze medal she won in the floor exercise final of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
On Saturday, the Court of Arbitration for Sports voided the appeal that Chiles' coach made during the competition that bumped the USA gymnast from fifth to third place. It resulted in the original standing being restored, with Romania's Ana Barbosu claiming the third spot.
For those not in the know, during the competition, Chiles initially scored 13.666 before an inquiry led to her getting an extra 0.1 point, pushing her up to third place with 13.766. As a result, Barbosu dropped from third to fourth with 13.700, and fellow Romanian Sabrina Voinea ended up fifth with 13.700 as well.
The ruling quickly sparked talks about whether or not Chiles would need to return her bronze medal. The International Olympic Committee was the one designated to address the allocation of medals, but the organization didn't address it until early Sunday morning.
In a statement addressing the medal controversy , the International Olympic Committee confirmed that it is now working to get Chiles' medal back and give it to Barbosu.
"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 Barbosu (Romania)," the statement read, via Gymnast Now.
"We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal."
Sure enough, the decision angered a lot of fans. It's worth noting that the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee had requested that all athletes involved in the controversy be awarded third place and a bronze medal each, so a lot of fans wondered why it wasn't the option chosen.
Many also pointed out that the athletes were not to blame for the mistake but rather the judges.
"Why can’t Jordan keep her medal and Ana get another one?" a commenter asked. Another one agreed, "This isn’t right! Just let them have one each."
"So the Romanians offered to share and it was turned down? This feels like a lesson in how to traumatize as many people as possible," a third social media user shared.
A disappointed commenter added, "USAG or Jordan Chiles should file a lawsuit."
"This isn’t even like she’s going from silver to bronze & still having a medal. Jordan is going from having a medal & carrying the honor of being an Olympic Champion to no medals at all. She didn’t even do anything wrong, It was the judges fault, they should be the ones to pay!" an angry supporter said.
"Just disgusting. Two bronze medals would be perfect, both teams agreed but FIG stepped in. Revoking ANOTHER medal just to make everything 10x worse," a critic noted.
It is certainly a heartbreaking development for Jordan Chiles and USA Gymnastics. Chiles, for her part, announced after the ruling was made on Saturday that she would be taking a break from social media.
Related: Jordan Chiles' Coach Heartbroken For Romanian Gymnast Over Olympic Scandal
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