Jordan Chiles stripped of floor exercise bronze medal, US to appeal

CNN
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The International Olympic Committee announced on Sunday that the bronze medal won by American gymnast Jordan Chiles in the floor exercise at the Paris Games will be awarded to her Romanian counterpart Ana Barbosu.

It comes after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Saturday that said the United States’ preliminary investigation into Chiles’ score in Monday’s floor exercise final was brought forward after the one-minute deadline.

The International Gymnastics Federation said Chile’s original score of 13.666 would be reinstated, and Barboso’s ranking – with a score of 13.700 – would be improved to third place.

The IOC confirmed that changing the result would mean stripping Chiles of the bronze medal and giving it to Barboso.

“Following the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding the women’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise final and the adjustment of the standings by the International Gymnastics Federation, the IOC will re-allocate the bronze medal to Ana Barbosu (Romania),” the IOC said in a statement.

“We are in contact with the Romanian Olympic Committee to discuss the medal redistribution ceremony and with the US Olympic Committee regarding the return of the bronze medal.”

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee said Sunday it would appeal the decision.

“We strongly believe that Jordan was rightfully awarded the bronze medal, and there were serious errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation and the subsequent appeal process at the Court of Arbitration for Sport that need to be addressed,” the statement read.

“The first error occurred in the AIBA scoring, and the second occurred during the appeal process before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where the USOPC was not given sufficient time or notice to effectively challenge the decision. As a result, we were not properly represented or given the opportunity to present our case comprehensively.

“Under these circumstances, we are committed to continuing our petition to help Jordan Chiles receive the recognition she deserves. We remain committed to supporting her as an Olympic champion and will continue to work diligently to resolve this matter quickly and fairly.”

USA Gymnastics referred to its statement on Saturday in which it said it was “devastated” by the ruling.

The competition ended on Monday in dramatic fashion. As soon as the competition ended on Monday with Chiles’ performance, Barboso thought she had won the bronze medal after scoring 13.700 points.

Chiles initially received 13.666 points, but her coaches successfully challenged the difficulty level, which added 0.1 points to her score, pushing her into third place, behind gold medalist Rebecca Andrade and American Simone Biles.

Their appearance together on the gymnastics podium at the first all-black Olympics produced one of the most iconic images of the Games as Americans bowed to Andrade.

But the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling that the investigation filed on behalf of Chile “was raised after the one-minute time limit” stipulated in the regulations has raised doubts about Chile’s medal.

Chiles posted four broken heart emojis on her Instagram account after the CAS ruling and said: “I will take this time and remove myself from social media for the sake of my mental health, thank you.”

CNN’s Essie Ronald, Jacob Leff, Homero de la Fuente and Dan Moriarty contributed to this report.