Shame on you, International Olympic Committee.
As announced on Sunday, Jordan Chiles will be stripped over her bronze medal in floor exercise over a mere technicality, thanks to an appeal by Romania.
As we explained on Saturday breaking down this debacle: Chiles’ coaches appealed the judges’ initial scoring of her routine, and when her score put her into third place over Romania’s Ana Barbosu, she won the bronze.
Romania’s argument upon appeal was that Team USA challenged four seconds too late by Federation of Gymnastics rules, which state that inquiries need to be sent in 60 seconds after the scoreboard shows the score.
It turns out the IOC agreed with a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Saturday. Chiles will be stripped of her bronze and Barbosu will get it, thanks to a whole four seconds.
USA TODAY Sports’ Nancy Armour summed it up so well in her column:
Chiles did nothing wrong. She didn’t dope. She didn’t cheat. She didn’t break any laws. She wasn’t even the one who submitted an appeal that we know now was done four seconds too late.
None of that matters. She’s losing her bronze medal because of a procedural error. The supposed adults in charge screwed up, but it’s Chiles who is paying the price.
Yes, I know, rules are rules.
But that’s really it. Chiles is punished for the mistake of others, one that — if it was indeed four seconds too late — should have been rejected on the spot when the appeal was made, if that was the case. And Chiles has had to deal with some awful horribleness on social media, likely leading to her announcing she was taking a break. Again, not because of something she did.
There’s a solution here, and it’s in the spirit of, well, the so-called Olympic spirit: two bronze medals. Why punish Chiles and Barbosu for mistakes they didn’t make? We’ve seen multiple medals handed out in the past. It does no harm to have them both take home one, and shows this isn’t about a win or a loss, but rather that procedural stuff like this is bull and it’s the athletes and their achievements that matter.
Once again, the IOC shows that it’s one of the most incompetent organizations in the world. Would anyone be upset if they awarded two bronze medals? Chiles literally had the third-best score. Not her fault the judges screwed up and an inquiry was necessary. Common sense, folks. https://t.co/KgRWI3LKPC
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) August 11, 2024
I said it as soon as it happened: Ana Maria Bărbosu & Jordan Chiles should have BOTH been awarded bronze medals after the judges’ egregious error. All the IOC has done here is hurt two extremely gifted, hard working young ladies. A sad day for the Olympic movement.
— Keith Mcilwain (@KeithMcilwain) August 11, 2024
There’s still room to change the ruling. Two medals would be the right call.
