American gymnast Jordan Chiles will give back her bronze medal she won in the women's gymnastics floor final at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“The IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Barbosu (Romania)," the International Olympic Committee said in a statement Sunday. "We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”
The IOC's decision comes in light of the Romanian Federation of Gymnastics filing a protest with the International Gymnastics Federation and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding an appeal made by Chiles's coach Cecile Landi. Shortly after Chiles finished her routine in the floor final, Landi believed the gymnast's difficulty score was too low and filed an inquiry to the judges. She won the challenge, and Chiles's score leapt from fifth place to third place for a spot on the podium alongside American teammate Simone Biles and Brazil's Rebeca Andrade.
However, an arbitral panel ruled Saturday that Chiles's appeal of her score was filed four seconds after the allowable one-minute time limit, meaning her score should have stayed at 13.666 and Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu's score of 13.700 would win the bronze.
The IOC confirmed the score change Sunday to enforce the bronze medal exchange.
"We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women's floor exercise," USA Gymnastics said in a statement Saturday. "The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles's floor exercise was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring."
Although she will give back the bronze medal, Chiles still will retain her gold medal she won alongside American teammates Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera in the team all-around competition.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as IOC Orders Jordan Chiles to Give Back Bronze Medal, Awards It to Ana Barbosu.
