Jordan Chiles's teammates and the rest of the Olympic world came to her defense this weekend as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially ruled Sunday the American gymnast needs to give back her bronze medal she initially won in the women's gymnastics floor final in Paris.
The controversy stems from a protest filed by the Romanian Federation of Gymnastics, which argued that Chiles's coach Cecile Landi sent in an appeal of the gymnast's difficulty score after the allowable one-minute time limit. Chiles's score, which was boosted to 13.766 after the successful challenge, was returned to 13.666 after the ruling, dropping her from third place back to fifth.
Simone Biles, who won the silver medal in the floor competition, weighed in on the situation on social media.
"Sending you so much love Jordan," Biles wrote on Instagram on Saturday. "Keep your chin up Olympic champ! We love you!"
American teammate Suni Lee, who won one gold and two bronze medals in Paris, shared a similar message about the situation.
"All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?" Lee wrote on her Instagram story on Saturday. "Completely unacceptable. This is awful and I'm gutted for Jordan. I got your back forever Jo, [you] have all my flowers and you will always be an Olympic champion."
Thousands of other Olympic gymnasts, athletes and fans also criticized the decision to remove a bronze medal from Chiles's possession five days after the competition took place.
Why are the athletes the ones to suffer due to a judging error/oversight? Where is the accountability? Where is the “athlete wellbeing” that is spoken of so often? https://t.co/DBRdhhj3wL
— Heath Thorpe (@thorpeheath) August 11, 2024
— Tyrese Haliburton (@TyHaliburton22) August 11, 2024
This happened, and it will never disappear.
— ira. (@ilikesiestas) August 10, 2024
Jordan Chiles will always be the *rightful* bronze medalist for the Summer 2024 women's floor finals. pic.twitter.com/kum9ZEDLb0
Taking Jordan Chiles medal away (5 days after the competition is over!) is absolutely insane and corrupt. Judges made a call on the day of. Thats it, decision over. Can’t go back and change the past because some people didn’t like it. That’s not how competition works
— Ryan Akin (@RyanAkin21) August 10, 2024
Jordan Chiles you will ALWAYS be an Olympic floor individual medalist to us. pic.twitter.com/ELsNmiLFwA
— Annie Wu (all socials: @annie_wu_22) (@Annie_Wu_22) August 10, 2024
The bronze medal will be given to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, who landed a 13.700 score in the floor final. Although Chiles will be giving the hardware back, she'll still return to the United States as an Olympic champion after helping Team USA win the women's all-around gymnastics team final in Paris.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Simone Biles, Olympic World React to Jordan Chiles Getting Stripped of Bronze Medal.
