The 2024 Paris Olympics were not void of controversy. From the revitalization of the debate on the cardboard beds to the announcers introducing South Korea as North Korea, these Olympics were nowhere near perfect. But the biggest controversy of all was the back and forth decision of who should receive the Olympic bronze medal for the individual floor finals in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAGs).
Picture this: Jordan Chiles is last to compete and when her routine is done, she is announced to have a score of 13.666 placing her in fifth place with both Ana Bӑrbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, both from Romania, in their respective third and fourth sports with a score of 13.700 each. Bӑrbosu placed above Maneca-Voinea due to her execution score being higher.
Bӑrbosu sees her score and begins to celebrate, going so far as to grab her flag and rush onto the floor ready to receive her bronze medal. Meanwhile, Chiles’ coach Cecil Landi has put in an inquiry with the belief that Chiles did not receive credit for a move she had done in her routine. The move in question was a Gogean, in which the gymnast completes a split leap and a one and a half turn.
Chiles’ appeal is accepted and her new score of 13.766 moves her into third place. Chiles immediately celebrates but in the background, a crushed Ana Bӑrbosu is seen dropping her flag in defeat.
Many would think that the drama of that day had ended right there, but just five days after Jordan Chiles received her bronze medal, the Court of Arbitration of Sports, or the CAS, reinstated Chiles’ original score, knocking her back into fifth place and putting her medal on the line. An unknown Romanian claimed that Chiles’ appeal happened a minute and four seconds after her score was announced, four seconds past the appeal deadline.
Jordan Chiles was later asked to return her bronze medal and Ana Bӑrbosu was sent a new medal in the mail even though the unknown Romanian had wanted Chiles, Bӑrbosu and Maneca-Voinea to all share the bronze medal.
So why is Sabrina Maneca-Voinea in this conversation? Well, during her routine the judges had given her a tenth of a point deduction for being out of bounds but no one been able to find when that occurred. Though, as per the rules of inquiries in WAGs, the inquiry must happen before the score of the next gymnast comes up, or for the last gymnast in rotation, before one minute.
As well, a person can only inquire about their difficulty score rather than their execution score, and Maneca-Voinea’s deduction would be a part of her execution score.
USA Gymnastics put in an appeal for Chiles’ score reversal but the CAS declined it. USA Gymnastics stated on their instagram “USA Gymnastics on Sunday formally submitted a letter and video evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, conclusively establishing that Head Coach Cecile Landi’s request to file an inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after the publishing of the score, within the 1-minute deadline required by FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) rule.”
After their appeal was denied, USA Gymnastics stated in a second post that they will continue to fight for justice for Jordan Chiles even if it means going to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
Shortly after USA Gymnastics last statement, it was revealed that the head of the CAS panel overseeing Jordan Chiles’ case, Dr. Hamid G. Gharavi, has worked for the Romanian government in the past, igniting questions on whether the final decision was biased.
The U.S. has also claimed that CAS had sent multiple emails to an incorrect email address including one that informed the U.S. the deadline of when to send in their own evidence. The USA Team did not receive those emails until after the deadline.
There has not been an update on whether or not Jordan Chiles’ will receive her bronze medal.