Jordan Chiles Loses Her Olympic Bronze Medal

Fate has ruled against Olympic bronze medalist Jordan Chiles in what many are calling an unfair ruling and an epic stain on the quadrennial games.

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Last week, American gymnast Jordan Chiles of the Pacific Northwest won the very first individual Olympic medal of her career. Her floor exercise final garnered a score of 13.766, while her American teammate Sabrina Voinea and Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu each earned identical scores of 13.7. Chiles grabbed 3rd place and the right to a bronze medal. Her first.  

However, that’s not how it all began.

Earlier in the evening, the judges initially gave Jordan Chiles a score of 13.666, which placed her 5th and out of medal contention against her challengers. However, Team USA head coach Cecile Landi filed an inquiry and got judges to admit they inadvertently awarded her one-tenth lower than the maximum D-score. The correction was enough for Chiles to receive the bronze and all was well — until it wasn’t.

Over the past 72 hours, the Olympic Committee claimed that Chiles’ coach filed the inquiry 4 seconds too late for it to have counted. Or, in other words, the judges make a huge scoring mistake — but the coach didn’t catch the mistake soon enough for it to make a difference.  

If only the coach had filed the complaint against the judges 4 seconds earlier, Jordan Chiles would still be an Olympic medalist today. Now, she’s not.

Over the past few days, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation filed a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (the independent body formed by the IOC to settle disputes like this) over the way the inquiry was made. The RGF argued that because Coach Landi filed the inquiry after the one-minute deadline, the judges should have never accepted the challenge or amended Chiles’ score.

The court agreed with the RGF and reinstated Chiles’ original score of 13.666, which placed her back in 5th place. The FIG has since officially amended the final ranking of the floor final and put Romania’s Barbosu back in third, Voinea fourth, and Chiles fifth.  They have also demanded that Jordan Chiles return her bronze medal.

“The IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Barbosu (Romania). We are in touch with the [National Olympic Committee] of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal,” the group said Monday in a statement.

However, the USOPC is not taking the news lightly.

“We firmly believe that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the subsequent CAS appeal process that need to be addressed,” the USOPC said in a statement. “We are committed to pursuing an appeal to ensure that Jordan Chiles receives the recognition she deserves.”

As expected, the court of public opinion has since weighed in with myriad opinions.

Some say that although the medal reversal is unfortunate, rules are rules and the coach should have been timely in the same way she would have expected the Romanians to be timely if the shoe were on the other foot. However, others pointed out that the coach never would have needed to file a challenge at all if the judges had done their jobs properly.  Also, making such a huge award change over 4 seconds is absurd.

Oh, but wait. There’s more.

On Monday, USA Today reported that USA Gymnastics has obtained new video evidence proving that Coach Cecile Landi did, in fact, submit the necessary challenge over Chiles’ score before the one-minute deadline.  They added that they’re able to prove the inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after her score was announced, to be exact — or, 13 seconds before the deadline.

In a statement, the governing body said it has submitted a video and a formal letter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in a request to reinstate Chiles’ score of 13.766 and allow her to keep her bronze medal.

Nevertheless, it’s clear this entire debacle has been completely mishandled.

The judges botched their scoring duties. The Olympic Committee gave Chiles a medal, then ruled to snatch the medal and historic moment from her. They’ve also sent Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu on a veritable rollercoaster by telling her she lost, then giving her hope that she’s won and will receive the medal after all. However, if the alleged video proves what it claims, Barbosu will experience defeat for a second time.

Should Jordan Chiles keep the medal she was already awarded?  Should Ana Barbosu be given the medal instead? Should the gymnasts each receive a medal and a shared award honor? Should the judges be fired for their failures and never allowed to judge a competition again?  

Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

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The Jordan Chiles Olympic debacle.