Aug. 10 (UPI) — USA Gymnastics was “devastated,” while Jordan Chiles was heartbroken Saturday after officials restored Romanian Ana Barbosu to third place and demoted Chiles to fifth in the Summers Olympics floor exercise in Paris.
Chiles initially received the fifth-place score (13.666) in the competition, held Monday at Bercy Arena. Coach Cecil Landi then called for an inquiry into that score, and the judges upheld the appeal.
The decision gave Chiles an improved 13.766 score, which was better than Barbosu and fellow Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who both scored 13.700. Barbosu, who had a better execution score than Maneca-Voinea, would have earned the bronze medal if Landi had not made the inquiry.
Chiles was elated by the decision. She cried tears of joy and jumped into the arms of her coaches and Simone Biles upon learning that she would join her U.S. teammate, who placed second, on the podium.
Meanwhile, Borbosu was crushed. She first smiled, while draping the Romanian flag around her shoulders. She was then reduced to tears upon learning that she was moved to fourth place.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport first announced Saturday that Landi’s on-floor appeal came outside of a one-minute window allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation, saying that it occurred 4 seconds past that deadline.
The court also said that the initial finishing order should be restored, with Chiles demoted to fifth.
The court deferred to the federation to determine the final ranking and assignment of medals in response to their decision.
Shortly after the court’s ruling, the federation said that Chiles’ initial score of 13.666 was reinstated and that the ranking of the floor exercise final was modified.
Upon learning of the news, Chiles posted heartbroken emojis on her Instagram story and said she was taking time away from social media for her “mental health.”
“We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise,” USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said.
“The inquiry into the difficulty value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with [federation] rules to ensure accurate scoring.”
The officials pledged to stand by Chiles, who they said has “been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media.”
It is not clear if Chiles, who returned to the United States, will have to return her bronze medal. The Romanian Gymnastics Federation previously asked for three bronze medals to be awarded.
The International Olympic Committee is responsible for medal allocation. The IOC did not immediately respond when asked for comment.
