Jordan Chiles could be stripped of her Olympic bronze medal, which she won in the women’s floor final, after a shock ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Saturday.
CAS ruled that the jury had wrongly allowed an investigation that gave Chiles a higher score and moved her up from fifth place to the bronze medal, at the expense of Ana Barbosu, who burst into tears.
USA Gymnastics says it is “devastated” by the decision.
Chiles’ score improved after her coach Cecile Landi objected to a vault that had originally been rated lower in difficulty.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation said on August 7 that it had filed requests with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It said one of them was related to the investigation filed by Chiles’ coaches.
Jordan Chiles could lose the bronze medal she won in the women’s floor final
“The Romanian Gymnastics Federation is aware of the negative impact on Ana Maria Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea (who also competed with Chiles) and therefore wants to correct the mistakes of the judges and restore the rights of our athletes,” the federation said.
The floor exercise result has caused a stir in Romania.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Tuesday he will boycott the closing ceremony because of the “scandalous situation”.
Ciolacu promised that Romania would honor Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea as Olympic medalists, “also in terms of prizes.”
Chiles posted several broken heart emojis to her Instagram Story on Saturday afternoon.
One of Jordan’s older sisters, Jazmin Chiles, posted a statement on her social media saying Jordan could potentially lose her bronze medal.
“Keep Jordan (and my family) in your prayers. Racism is real, it exists, it’s alive and well,” Jazmin said. “They officially, 5 days later, stripped her of one of her medals.”
“Not because she didn’t win, not because she was drugged, not because she colored outside the lines. Not because she wasn’t good enough. But because the jury didn’t give her a hard time and forced an investigation.”
“FOUR SECONDS. Her bronze was taken off her time by 4 seconds, which never should have happened if the judges had done their job. I love you, little sister. And I got you back no matter what.”
