Jordan Chiles stripped of Olympic bronze, IOC says medal will now go to Romania's Ana Barbosu

PARIS, FRANCE: In an unexpected turn of events, Jordan Chiles has been stripped of her Olympic bronze after the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) claimed the US gymnast was awarded the medal wrongfully. 

The verdict declared that the inquiry that let Chiles move from fifth to third position was improperly granted. Her inquiry was apparently filed four seconds after the one-minute deadline, making it unlawful, as per CAS' Saturday, August 10 decision. 

International Olympic Committee announced the bronze medal will be awarded to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu

Following the announcement of the verdict, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in a statement that the bronze medal would be taken from Chiles and would be reallocated to the Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, who was initially placed third during the floor final on Monday.

In a statement to People on Sunday, the IOC said, "We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal."

During the CAS ruling, it was not initially determined how the medal would be handled. Rather, it has been on to the IOC and the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to determine the redistribution of medals. 

Why did Jordan Chiles lose the medal?

On Monday, Jordan Chiles initially finished fifth in the floor final after scoring 13.666. Ana Barbosu and her Romanian teammate Maneca-Voinea, on the other hand, scored 13.700.

However, USA Gymnastics' Cecile Landi submitted a successful inquiry into the decision pointing out that Chiles' difficulty score had been too low, specifically regarding a leap involving a split in the air while turning 540 degrees.

As the judges agreed with Landi and increased Chiles' score by 0.1, her score whizzed past the Romanians to give her the third spot, earning her the bronze medal.

A day later, the Romanian Olympic Committee protested the decision with a CAS judge ruling on Saturday that the Team USA gymnast was wrongfully awarded the medal as her inquiry was submitted four seconds past the initial deadline of one minute.

Per the ruling, "The inquiry submitted on behalf of Ms Jordan Chiles in the Final of the women’s Floor exercise was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline provided by article 8.5 of the 2024 FIG Technical Regulations and is determined to be without effect."

The Romanian Olympic Committee requested that the IOC/FIG amend the final podium by "placing all three athletes in 3rd position and the allocation of medals to all three athletes." 

However, the medal was only allocated to Barbosu. 

Following the verdict, a distraught Chiles declared that she was taking some time off social media, as she wrote on her Instagram Story, "I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you."