Romania’s Ana Barbosu could replace American Jordan Chiles as the Olympic bronze medalist in gymnastics floor exercise after the International Gymnastics Federation restored Barbosu to third.
The FIG made the decision after the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided an appeal from Chiles’ coach during Monday’s competition that vaulted her over Barbosu and onto the podium.
Here’s a look at how Chiles, Barbosu and Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea winded up in a scoring controversy that has been painful for all three.
How did Jordan Chiles end up with the bronze medal?
Chiles qualified third in women’s floor exercise and ended up competing last in the eight-woman final, where the order was determined randomly in advance.
The 23-year-old finished her routine and was awarded a 13.666, which was fifth just behind Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea at 13.700.
Cecile Landi, who is Chiles’ personal coach and also served as coach for Team USA in Paris, appealed to the judges to have an element restored to Chiles’ routine. Judges approved the appeal, boosting Chiles’ score by .1, good enough for Chiles to earn her third career Olympic medal to go with the team silver she won in Tokyo in 2021 and the team gold she helped the U.S. capture in Paris.
How did Romania appeal Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal?
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation asked CAS to review the procedure surrounding Landi’s appeal of Chiles’ score.
International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) guidelines require coaches to make any appeal of a score within one minute of the score being posted.
CAS ruled that Landi officially made her appeal in 1 minute, 4 seconds, just past the deadline.
The appeal on Chiles was granted, with CAS ruling that Chiles’ score should be dropped back down to 13.666 and that the initial order of finish should be restored.
So will Ana Barbosu get the bronze medal?
Good question. The decision seems to ultimately up to the FIG.
CAS wrote in its ruling that the FIG shall determine the final ranking, but added that FIG should assign the medal “in accordance with” the CAS decision. The FIG placed Barbosu third, Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth.
