PARIS — U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles will be required to return the individual bronze medal she received at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the International Olympic Committee announced Sunday morning.
The news comes less than 24 hours after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the judging panel for the women’s floor exercise final made a mistake in granting an inquiry filed by Chiles’ coaches, which moved the American gymnast into medal position. The Romanian Gymnastics Federation had challenged the validity of that inquiry, saying it was filed four seconds beyond the deadline by which any scoring appeals had to be submitted.
The IOC said in a statement that it will reallocate the bronze medal to Romania’s Ana Barbosu, who had previously been fourth.
‘We are in touch with the (national Olympic committee) of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with (the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee) regarding the return of the bronze medal,’ the IOC said in a statement.
Spokespeople for USA Gymnastics and the USOPC did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment, though they released a statement Saturday night that described the CAS decision as ‘devastating.’
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‘The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with (International Gymnastics Federation) rules to ensure accurate scoring,’ the entities said.
‘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.’
Chiles, 23, wrote on Instagram on Saturday that she was leaving social media to protect her mental health.
The IOC’s decision to take away Chiles’ bronze medal is the latest emotional whiplash following the floor final Monday at Bercy Arena. Chiles went last in the final and initially received a score of 13.666, which put her fifth behind both Barbosu and another Romanian gymnast, Sabrina Voinea. But after U.S. coaches filed an inquiry, or scoring appeal, with the judges, her score increased by one tenth of a point to 13.766. And she leapfrogged two Romanians, who both had scores of 13,700, to take bronze.
The last-minute inquiry came as Barbosu was already up on the podium celebrating the medal she thought she had won, prompting outcry from the Romanians. They later filed a formal appeal with CAS, the Swiss-based court that usually serves as the final arbiter of international sports disputes, and alleged that the inquiry had been submitted four seconds past the 60-second deadline by which inquiries must be filed.
CAS ruled in the Romanians’ favor and said Chiles’ score should be reverted back to 13.666, but it punted any decisions on the final order of finish or medals to the International Gymnastics Federation, known as FIG.
FIG then confirmed it would reinstate Chiles’ initial score and that she would be moved to fifth, but it punted any decisions on whether she would have to return her bronze medal to the IOC, which knocked over the final domino Sunday morning.
Chiles, 23, had spoken after the floor exercise final about how proud she was to earn an individual Olympic medal. While she contributed to the teams that won silver and gold, respectively, in Tokyo and Paris, she had never won an individual medal at the Olympics, nor qualified for an individual final at the Games.
‘All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?’ Chiles’ teammate Sunisa Lee wrote on Instagram. ‘Completely unacceptable. This is awful and I’m gutted for Jordan.’
At least in recent years, the IOC has most commonly used the medal reallocation process in the wake of confirmed doping cases.
Earlier this week, members of the U.S. figure skating team from the 2022 Beijing Games received their golds, which were upgraded from silvers amid the fallout of the Kamila Valieva case. On Friday, the IOC held a rare ceremony to reallocate 10 medals from the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Games, with many of the changes due to Russians who were found to be part of the country’s state-sponsored doping program.
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad. Follow columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
