Four Seconds Could Cost Jordan Chiles Her Bronze Medal

Five days after winning bronze in the floor routine, Jordan Chiles may have to give her medal away.

On Monday, Aug. 5, Chiles scored 13.666 in the women’s gymnastic floor routine. This put her in fifth place, after Romania gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Moneca-Voinea. Chiles’ coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi appealed on her behalf, inquiring whether the judges had correctly calculated her difficulty score.

Judges determined that they hadn’t, and while Barbosu celebrated with a Romania flag over her shoulder, the judges increased Chiles’ score to 13.766—which bumped her up two spots,  effectively putting her in third place.

This led to the Romania gymnastics team further pushing the issue and stating that the judges had made yet another mistake: they allowed the inquiry to be submitted at one minute and four seconds.

Which is four seconds too late.

Currently, the rule states that every gymnast has four minutes to inquire about their score after their routine except the last person to participate, who only has one minute.

On Saturday, Aug. 10, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Chiles’ inquiry was indeed after the time required time of one minute. Because of that, Chiles initial score of 13.666 was reinstated, which would put her back in fifth place and return the bronze to Barbosu.

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), the governing body of gymnastics, confirmed those results and stated that Barbosu would be the third-place winner.

The United States of America Gymnastics and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee released a joint statement on the debacle, saying, “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.” They added that they “condemn” the attacks on Chiles and commend her for “conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor.”

So far, Chiles has only responded with an Instagram story of three heartbroken emojis, while her sister, Jasmin Chiles, returned to Twitter after two years to tweet her opinion, starting with, “Getting on this app so I can go to war for my baby sis @ChilesJordan.”

Romania and the United States wanted to share a three-way tie for the young ladies, but the International Olympic Committee decided that Chiles had to return her bronze. They are currently working with the USOPC and the National Committee of Gymnastics in Romania for a reallocation ceremony.

This is unprecedented, as medals are only taken away for illegal drugs or cheating.

According to Christine Brennan, a USA Today columnist, the USOPC will release a statement saying they are appealing the decision. This is an ongoing story.