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 therefore invalid, and that her initial score be reinstated. The other requests were denied.
It’s now up to the International Gymnastics Federation to determine the final ranking of the floor exercise final, based on CAS’ ruling.
In a statement, 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.”
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