While the Paris 2024 Olympic Games may have just ended, drama from the gymnastics floor finals continues. In case you missed it, Jordan Chiles won an individual bronze medal for her floor routine on August 5 after an inquiry was made on her behalf that boosted her score.
Now, Chiles risks having her only individual medal from this Olympics stripped from her (her other medal from the Paris Games is a gold from the team all-around competition), which would be the first time this has happened to an Olympic athlete who didn’t violate any rules.
Here’s exactly what has happened so far, plus reactions from the gymnastics community.
A timeline of events
August 5
- Chiles competed in the artistic gymnastics floor finals. She initially received a score of 13.666 for her routine, which put her in fourth place behind Romania’s Ana Bărbosu, according to USA Today.
- Chiles’s coach, Cecile Canqueteau-Landi, submitted an inquiry regarding her score because she thought the judges didn’t credit Chiles for a skill.
- The judges approved Canqueteau-Landi’s inquiry and increased Chiles’ difficulty score by 0.1, which put her total score at 13.766. This new score moved Chiles up to third place, ahead of Bărbosu (now in fourth place). Chiles received a bronze at the medal ceremony after the floor finals.
August 10
- The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) issued a ruling that recommended Chiles’ original floor routine score be reinstated.
- This came after the Romanian Gymnastics Federation asked the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) for Canqueteau-Landi’s inquiry to be re-evaluated—the Romanian Gymnastics Federation argued Team USA’s inquiry was submitted past the 1-minute deadline, voiding the inquiry altogether.
August 11
- Following the CAS ruling, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said the organization “will reallocate” the bronze medal from Chiles to Bărbosu.
- The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said in a statement that USA Gymnastics (USAG) has timestamped video footage that Canqueteau-Landi first stated her request to file an inquiry 47 seconds after Chiles’ score was posted and followed up again 55 seconds after the score was initially posted. “The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the tribunal’s decision and thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it,” the statement said.
- The USOPC has submitted this video to appeal the initial ruling from the CAS.
August 12
- USAG was notified by the CAS that their rules “don’t allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented,” according to a statement USAG posted to their Instagram.
Reactions from Chiles and her coaches, teammates, and family
According to Yahoo! Sports, after the announcement of the decision, Chiles posted a now-deleted Instagram story that said: “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health thank you.”
In the comments of her August 6 Instagram post, Canqueteau-Landi wrote: “I shouldn’t have to explain but I will ONCE. Jordan’s highest possible SV on floor is a 5.9- At quals and team finals she received a 5.8 and we didn’t question it because we saw that not all elements were completed. During floor finals, we thought [it] was better and being placed 5th with nothing to lose, I sent the inquiry so I wouldn’t regret not asking. I didn’t think it would be accepted and at my surprise it was.”
She went on to say: “Do I feel bad for the Romanian athlete? Of course I do! It was so sad and heartbreaking to see but it is the sport! You don’t have to like it but you do have to respect the outcome and more importantly respect Jordan and not drag her down because you disagree. She EARNED that bronze medal, her 1st individual Olympic medal and I couldn’t be more proud and excited!”
Chiles’ sister, Jazmin, posted a now-deleted Instagram story that said: “Racism is real, it exists, it is alive and well. They have officially, five days later, stripped her of one of her medals. Not because she didn’t win, not because she was drugged, not because she stepped out of bounds. Not because she wasn’t good enough. But because the judges failed to give her difficulty and forced an inquiry to be made.”
Chiles’ teammates, Suni Lee, Jade, Carey, and Simone Biles, all posted Instagram stories in support of Chiles as well. And, two-time Olympic gymnast Alexandra Raisman posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Don’t have the words right now. But this is so unacceptable & heartbreaking. No athlete should ever go through this. This is unfair & cruel. Athlete fairness & athlete mental health matters. Athletes should not suffer from mistakes that are out of their control. & the bullying must stop!”
Has anything like this ever happened before?
In short: no. While there have been instances where Olympians have had to give back their medals, it’s been due to illegal activities like doping or purposely falsifying information, NBC News reports. A few examples include:
- Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt had to return his 4×100-meter relay gold medal after teammate Nesta Carter’s doping violation led to the team’s disqualification nine years after the 2008 race.
- The 2000 Chinese gymnastics team had to return their bronze medal in the team competition 10 years after the fact because team member Dong Fangxiao falsified her age in order to meet Olympic requirements (she was found to have been 14 years old when the age requirement is 16 years old).
But there hasn’t been an occasion where an athlete has had to give up their medal when the situation was no fault of their own.
What happens next?
USAG will continue to “pursue every possible avenue and appeal process” to ensure the proper scoring and award for Chiles, according to their August 12 statement. Everyone seems eager for this to be fully resolved after a full week of ups and downs.
