US Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles has officially been stripped of her bronze medal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The decision came after it was claimed Chiles had been incorrectly awarded the medal instead of Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu.
Chiles, 23, had been the bronze – her first ever individual Olympic medal – in the floor final on August 5 after she had originally finished in fifth place based on the judges’ scores.
However, USA Gymnastics’ coach Cecile Landi had quicky submitted an inquiry into the decision, claiming that Chiles had been underscored for difficulty, specifically for a leap that involved performing a split in the air while turning 540 degrees.
Her appeal was successful and the judges boosted Chiles’s score from 13.666 to 13.766, making her take the third-place spot over Barbosu and fellow Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who both scored 13.700.
The Romanian Olympic committee had appealed the decision one day later, and it was confirmed on Saturday that a CAS judge had ruled that Landi had submitted her initial inquiry within 1 minute and 4 seconds – which was four seconds too late for it to count.
The ruling stated: “The inquiry submitted on behalf of Ms Jordan Chiles in the Final of the women’s Floor exercise was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline provided by article 8.5 of the 2024 FIG Technical Regulations and is determined to be without effect.”
Following Saturday’s decision, the IOC announced that Chiles’s medal would be reallocated to Barbosu.
It said in a statement, via People: “We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”
The CAS ruling had been passed on to the IOC and the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to determine how to redistribute the medals.
The Romanian Olympic committee had requested that the IOC/FIG should place “all three athletes [Chiles, Barbosu, and Maneca-Voinea] in 3rd position and the allocation of medals to all three athletes,” but it decided to reallocate the medal solely to Barbosu instead.
Prior to the CAS ruling being announced, Chiles appeared to address the issue on her Instagram story, where she shared a series of broken heart emojis, before adding: “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”
Her teammate Simone Biles, who is also a close friend, addressed the situation on her own Instagram story by sharing a photo of them hugging as she added: “Sending you so much love Jordan. Keep your chin up Olympic champ! We love you!”
USA Gymnastics also shared a statement with the outlet following the controversial decision, writing: “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.”