Why Jordan Chiles Lost Her Bronze Medal

Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal in the women’s gymnastics floor exercise final was one of the more dramatic moments at the Paris Olympics. She made the podium after her coaches submitted an inquiry about the calculation of her difficulty score, and the judges agreed that her initial score, which put her in fifth place, was incorrect. The new score was 0.1 higher, which was enough to bring her into third.

The Romanian Gymnastics federation and their gymnasts Ana Maria Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who initially finished in third and fourth, challenged the inquiry submitted by Chiles and her coach. The parties, including USA Gymnastics and the International Olympic Committee, turned to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to arbitrate. The Romanians maintained that Chiles’ inquiry was submitted beyond the one minute deadline following the conclusion of her routine—it was submitted one minute and four seconds later. The Romanians also sought to remove the penalty applied to Maneca-Voinea. They requested that all three gymnasts be awarded the bronze.

On Aug. 10, CAS ruled that Chiles’ inquiry came in beyond the one minute deadline, and was therefore invalid, and that her initial score be reinstated. The other requests were denied.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) adopted the court's ruling and reverted Chiles' score back to the original—13.666—since the inquiry was submitted too late, and reordered the rankings once again. Chiles finished fifth and Barbosa, who earned a score of 13.700, moved into third place for the bronze medal

In a statement prior to FIG's decision, USA Gymnastics said: “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 [the International Gymnastics Federation] rules to ensure accurate scoring. Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her.”

Her teammates have all rallied to around her, sending messages of support on social media.

Simone Biles posted "sending you so much love Jordan. keep your chin up olympic champ! we love you!"

Sunisa Lee questioned the judges: "all this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?? completely unacceptable. this is awful and i'm gutted for jordan. I got your back forever jo. u have all my flowers and you will ALWAYS be an olympic champion "

Jade Carey wrote, "Don't punish the athlete for someone else's mistake. With you all the way Jo. You are forever an Olympic champion that has so much to be proud of."

Hezly Rivera also reached out saying, "love you @jordanchiles and will always support you!!!"

On her Instagram account, Chiles posted four broken hearts with the message: "I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health thank you."