Aug. 10 (UPI) – USA Gymnastics was “devastated” while Jordan Chiles was heartbroken Saturday after officials demoted Romania’s Ana Barbosu back to third place and Chiles to fifth place in the floor exercise at the Paris Summer Olympics.
Chiles was initially awarded fifth place (13.666) in the competition, which took place on Monday at the Bercy Arena. Coach Cecil Landi then requested a review of this score and the judges upheld the appeal.
The decision earned Chiles an improved score of 13.766, 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 won the bronze medal had Landi not made the request.
Chiles was delighted with the decision, crying tears of joy and jumping into her coaches’ and Simone Biles’ arms when she learned she would be on the podium alongside her U.S. teammate, who finished in second place.
Borbosu, on the other hand, was devastated. At first she smiled as she draped the Romanian flag around her shoulders, then burst into tears when she learned she had been relegated to fourth place.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced for the first time on Saturday that Landis’ appeal on the floor was made outside the one-minute time limit granted by the International Gymnastics Federation, namely four seconds after the expiry of that time limit.
The court also ruled that the original order at the finish must be restored, with Chiles being demoted to fifth place.
The court left it up to the federation to determine the final ranking and medal award in response to its decision.
Shortly after the court ruling, the federation announced that Chile’s original score of 13.666 had been restored and the ranking of the floor exercise final had been changed.
When Chiles heard the news, she posted heartbroken emojis on her Instagram story and said she was taking a break from social media for the sake of her “mental health.”
“We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling on women’s floor exercise,” said USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
“The inquiry regarding the difficulty level of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was submitted in good faith and, in our opinion, in accordance with the (federation) rules to ensure accurate scoring.”
Officials pledged to support Chiles, who they said was “subjected to constant, completely baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media.”
It is still unclear whether Chiles, who has returned to the USA, will have to return her bronze medal. The Romanian Gymnastics Federation had previously demanded that three bronze medals be awarded.
The International Olympic Committee is responsible for awarding medals. The IOC did not initially respond to a request for comment.
