Why this American gymnast is losing her bronze medal

Jordan Chiles was an Olympic bronze medalist on floor exercise for five days.

Per the latest from the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Saturday, in response to a ruling by Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Chiles will have to surrender the bronze medal she won in Paris in favor of Romanian gymnast Ana Maria Barbosu.

The ruling, made by FIG following a ruling by CAS, comes in the wake of an appeal by the Romanian Olympic Committee. The appeal came in response to Chiles wining the bronze medal on floor just ahead of a pair of Romanian gymnasts in Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Chiles initially finished in fifth after competition in the floor final, but an appeal by USA Gymnastics and Chiles’ coach Cecile Landi ultimately allowed Chiles to get credit for a skill she competed — a skill that was not correctly counted by the judges — which pushed her ahead of Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea in the final tally of scores.

The Romanian Olympic Committee appealed that score change, however, arguing that the United States was too slow to file its appeal according to international gymnastics rules.

The CAS ruled Saturday that the U.S. was indeed too late with their appeal of Chiles’ score — Chiles’ coaches were under a one minute deadline after her score was announced to appeal and they filed their appeal four seconds after that window closed — and thus her score shouldn’t have been amended and she shouldn’t have won the bronze medal.

The CAS left the decision to take the bronze from Chiles up to the FIG, though, and the gymnastics federation announced later Saturday that the bronze medal would indeed be taken from Chiles and instead awarded to Barbosu.

In a statement, FIG said , “Following the publication of the decision CAS OG 24/15 by the Ad Hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the FIG confirms that the results of the women’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise final on (Monday, August 5, 2024) are amended in accordance with this decision as follows:

• The initial score of 13.666 given to Jordan Chiles (USA) is reinstated.
• The ranking of the women’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise finals has been modified accordingly with Ana Barbosu (ROU) ranking third with a score of 13.700.”

In response to the ruling, which takes the bronze from Chiles, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee released a joint statement: “We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise. 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.”

Gymcastic reported that USA Gymnastics and Romania Gymnastics agreed to have Barbosu and Chiles share the bronze medal, but the International Olympic Committee and FIG did not approve it, instead asking Chiles to return her medal.

Medalists for the women’s individual floor final now stand as follows:

• Rebeca Andrade, Brazil — gold medal.
• Simone Biles, United States — silver medal.
• Ana Maria Barbosu, Romania — bronze medal.

Chiles did win a gold medal at the Paris Games as part of the five-woman U.S. team that won the team competition. Following the rule by FIG, however, Biles, Suni Lee and Jade Carey are now the only female American gymnasts to win individual medals at the Paris Olympics.