Jordan Chiles is a 23-year-old American gymnast who has competed in the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. On July 30th, 2024, during the Paris Olympics, the USA women’s gymnastics team won gold in the team finals. After the team finals, singular competitions started. Jordan Chiles qualified for the floor exercise, vault, uneven bars, and beam. On August 5th, 2024, the last event for gymnastics was floor exercise. Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles qualified for the finals together in that event. Simone Biles, going first, scored a 14.133 coming into 2nd, and securing a silver medal behind Rebeca Andrade from Brazil.
Jordan Chiles, last to compete needed a 13.700 or higher. After her entertaining and upbeat performance with only a few minor mess-ups, she scored a 13.666 placing her in 5th. Moments later, Jordan found out her score had been moved up by 0.1 giving Jordan her first bronze medal with a score of 13.766. Jordan’s coach made this change by inquiring about the difficulty of a tour jete full move. Ana Barbosu, originally in third place broke down crying realizing she was stripped of her bronze medal. After Jordan Chiles realized her score was bumped up she and Simone Biles celebrated both USA team members on the podium.
Soon after, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) released Monday night’s official scores, placing Jordan Chiles in fifth place, and Ana Barbosu back in third. This turn of events happened when the Romanian Gymnastics Federation asked the Court of Arbitration (CAS) if they could look into the inquiry of Jordan’s score. According to CAS, coaches have to make their inquiry within one minute of the initial score being posted. CAS ruled that Chiles’s coach, Canqueteau-Landi inquired four seconds late, making the inquiry void. The result of this investigation changed Jordan’s score back to 13.666 placing her in fifth.
After CAS released the scores the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had the choice of who the medals would go to. The IOC officially released that the bronze medal would go to Barbous so the committee would continue to work with the U.S. Olympics to attain the already awarded medal back from Jordan. A day after it was revealed that Jordan’s medal would be taken back, the USA Gymnastics announced that they had proof that they were 13 seconds within the timezone making the inquiry valid. The evidence was submitted to CAS for review. The USA Gymnastics was notified a day later that CAS had decided to reject the request to reopen the case. CAS claimed they cannot reopen a case even when new evidence is presented after an award is given meaning that they cannot take away an award after it’s been given, contradicting what CAS ruled for Jordan’s case in the first place. The USA Gymnastics will continue to fight for Jordan to get the medal back.
This entire situation between the Olympic Committee and multiple other gymnasts has brought up the question of how good the scoring and judging of sports are in the Olympics. There has been pushback on how the Olympic Committee treats the athletes and their mental health, this situation of the bronze medal has hurt multiple athletes putting them through hard emotional turmoil. There is enough physical strain on the athletes competing at that level that no athlete should have to go through that. Many people have agreed that both girls involved in the situation should be awarded bronze medals. All parties in this debacle should have time to reflect on what has happened and find peace without outside voices having their own opinions. This circumstance was an unfair justice against both gymnasts and the Olympic Committee needs to reconsider how they judge and handle these kinds of situations.
