A court ordered US gymnast Jordan Chiles to return the bronze medal she won in the recently concluded Paris Olympics 2024.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that the bronze medal will be reallocated to Ana Barbosu of Romania after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in favour of their appeal, US media outlets reported.
The IOC’s announcement of the bronze medal’s reallocation came hours before the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
The issue stemmed from confusion in the scoring during the women’s floor exercise final on August 5.
US gymnast Jordan Chiles’s was placed fifth with an initial score of 13.666, while Romania’s Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea finished with matching scores of 13.700.
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While Barbosu believed she had secured the bronze medal, Team USA gymnastics filed an on-floor appeal.
In their appeal, Team USA argued that Jordan Chiles’ score was incorrect due to the difference in the routine difficulty.
The judges then adjusted Chiles’ score by 0.1, surpassing Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.
Soon after the medal awarding ceremony, the Romanian team filed its own appeal in which they mentioned that Team USA appealed outside the one-minute time limit.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has now given a verdict in favour of the Romanian team and ordered the US gymnast to return the bronze medal she won in the Paris Olympics 2024.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) then restored the original scoring following the court’s ruling, placing Barbosu back in third, Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth.
Following the verdict, USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in a joint statement, “We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise.”
“The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” they added.
