Jordan Chiles won her first individual Olympic medal in Monday’s floor exercise final, but originally, the judges left her off the podium.
She earned her bronze medal after filing an appeal at the eleventh hour, earning a tenth of a point back on her score that boosted her from fifth place to third.
Aly Raisman knows what that feels like.
The six-time Olympic medalist faced an identical situation in the balance beam finals at the 2012 London Games. After losing an all-around bronze medal in a heart-wrenching tiebreaker, Raisman thought she was fourth again on the beam.
But her coach, Mihai Brestyan, knew something was not right. He appealed her score and, like Chiles a dozen years later, it made the difference between the bronze and no medal at all.
“I remember my coach was rushing to put in the inquiry and just making sure that he was writing everything down correctly,” Raisman told NBC News. “So it’s definitely a race against the clock, and it’s a lot of pressure. It was just so emotional and so special when it went my way.”
“I had just missed out on a medal in the all-around and I saw myself in fourth, and being fourth is so hard because you’re so close to a medal,” Raisman said.
She watched from the stands in Paris as Chiles, who Raisman dubbed her “good luck charm” when she was still competing, recreated her own Olympic moment.
“I’m so happy that her coaches put in the inquiry and she was able to get the bronze medal. It’s so special,” Raisman said. “I loved getting to see her reaction … and it was as if Simone had gotten that huge moment herself.”
Simone Biles won silver in the event but had a gold medal-worthy reaction when she saw that Chiles, her teammate and training mate, would stand on the podium alongside her.
Raisman was on the 2016 Olympic team with Biles that won team gold and collected more medals than any U.S. gymnastics team in history.
“It was just so cool to see them celebrating together. It was really beautiful to see how happy they both were,” she said of the pair’s exuberant conclusion to the Paris Games.
While the cinematic twist was a dream-maker for Chiles, a Romanian gymnast paid the price.
Before the inquiry was approved, Ana Barbosu thought she had earned her first Olympic medal and was waving the Romanian flag with utter glee when the scoreboard suddenly changed.
She stared, perplexed at first, at the screen, struggling to process what had happened. When it clicked, Barbosu dropped the flag abruptly and dissolved into tears.
Raisman has been there too.
“I think both things can be true. I’m so happy for Jordan, I am so proud of her and it was such a beautiful moment to watch,” Raisman said. “So my heart goes out to [Barbosu] … Watching her floor routine was so beautiful, and I just hope she’s proud of herself. But I know from experience being fourth, it’s hard.”
Raisman’s 2012 inquiry similarly deprived a Romanian, Catalina Ponor, of a medal.
“You’re so close, but so far from getting that medal still,” she added.
Raisman also called for a re-examination of the sport’s harshest rules, like tiebreakers and the two-per-country policy.
Chiles would have qualified for the all-around and vault finals if it hadn’t been for the rule that limits each country to two finalists per event. Chiles lost the chance to contend for an all-around medal to her teammate Suni Lee, who went on to win bronze.
The same rule enabled Raisman to compete in the London all-around final, but only at the expense of her friend and teammate Jordyn Wieber, who entered the London Olympics as the reigning world all-around champion.
Eight years ago, Raisman won her last Olympic medal in Rio, a silver in her signature event, the floor exercise. Now 30-years-old, she can enjoy the Games as a spectator.
Her parents, who became Olympic stars in their own right after their apparent nerves while watching their daughter compete went viral, are in Paris with her.
“Update… my parents are a lot more relaxed this time,” Raisman said in an Instagram post.
“It’s very surreal that this is my third Olympics. I feel very grateful to be able to watch the gymnastics and to see how incredibly they’re doing, and to see the atmosphere,” Raisman said. “It’s really cool to experience it from the other side.”
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