Jordan Chiles May Lose Olympic Bronze After Judges Rule to Reinstate Score

Jordan Chiles may lose her Olympic bronze medal in floor after a judge for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in favor of two Romanian gymnasts on Aug. 10.

Chiles, 23, won bronze in the floor final, her first-ever individual Olympic medal, on Monday, Aug. 5. She initially finished the event in fifth, based on the judges’ scoring, but her coach quickly submitted a successful inquiry into the decision that put her on the podium.

The judges agreed with Coach Cecile Landi that Chiles’ difficulty score had been too low, specifically regarding a leap that involved performing a split in the air while turning 540 degrees.

Chiles was updated to third place, ahead of Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu — who had initially won bronze — and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.

The Romanian Olympic committee protested the decision to CAS, who on Saturday decided to reinstate Chiles’ original score of 13.666. That put her back in fifth place, below the Romanian gymnasts who both finished with 13.700 scores.

“The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique shall determine the ranking of the Final of the women’s Floor exercise and assign the medal(s) in accordance with the above decision,” CAS said in their ruling.

USA Gymnastics expressed their disappointment with the decision in a statement shared with PEOPLE.

“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 FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring.” 

Before the ruling was released, Chiles posted a series of heartbroken emojis on her Instagram Stories. After it came out, she added that she was getting off social media.

“I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”

USA Gymnastics added in their statement that Chiles had been receiving hateful messages online accusing her of being a cheater, which her mom had called out on Friday.

“Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media,” USA Gymnastics said. “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.”

One day after the competition, the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee said on Facebook that they “sent a letter of protest to the International Gymnastics Federation… to re-evaluate the objection of Sabrina Voinea Maneca’s ground exercise.”

“Mediating the case of the Romanian sport at the international level, her public declaration to give up practicing this sport as a result of today’s decision morally obliges the decision-makers to re-analyze, ground and communicate the final decision,” the committee wrote in the post. 

Chiles’ Team USA coach Cecile Landi pushed back on Thursday against allegations that the gymnast cheated, and said she believes the judges made the correct decision in reevaluating Chiles’ score.

“Do I feel bad for the Romanian athlete? Of course I do!” she wrote. “It was so sad and heartbreaking to see but it is the sport!”

“Jordan won this bronze medal and didn’t steal anything from anyone,” she continued. “I simply did my job and fought for my athlete.”

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