Olympic Committee's huge call on Jordan Chiles' medal after gymnastics ruling rocks Paris Games

Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu has been awarded bronze in women's floor exercise after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided the appeal that saw American Jordan Chiles controversially leapfrog her into third. On Saturday The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) restored the Romanian gymnast to third place after ruling that Team USA coach Cecile Landi's on-floor appeal that resulted in Chiles' score being upgraded came four seconds too late.

CAS upheld the federation's verdict, taking away the 0.1 added to Chiles' score due to the appeal coming outside the 1-minute window allowed by the FIG. The committee wrote that Landi's appeal came 1 minute and 4 seconds after the score was posted.

Therefore the decision was reversed and Chiles was demoted back to fifth with her score of 13.666, behind Romanian gymnasts Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea at 13.700. The ruling could also result in the US gymnast being made to return the bronze medal despite already returning home to America from the Paris Olympics.

Will Jordan Chiles have to return her bronze medal?

Whether Chiles will have to return her bronze medal or not is unclear. FIG stated while it has restored the initial order of finish - with Barbosu third, Romanian teammate Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth - the allocation of medals is not up to them. A FIG spokesperson said the “reallocation of medals is the responsibility of the International Olympic Committee".

It remains to be seen if the American - who is already back in the US - will have to return her medal. However, a precedent set by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after a similar situation in 2022 would suggest both women will keep their medals.

In 2022 Switzerland’s Fanny Smith and Germany’s Daniela Maier were both awarded Olympic bronze medals after a lengthy dispute. Originally, Smith crossed the finish line in third place in Beijing's Olympic women's ski cross race.

But upon review, she was demoted to fourth place after making contact with Maier near the end of the race with the German athlete awarded bronze. Smith and the Swiss ski federation appealed the decision following the event and Smith was reinstated as the bronze medalist nine days after the race and six days after the Closing Ceremony. This is because it was deemed that "the close proximity of the racers at that moment resulted in action that was neither intentional or avoidable".

Following the verdict being passed down, USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee issued a joint statement saying they were "devastated" by the federation's ruling. "The inquiry into the difficulty value of Jordan Chiles's floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring," the governing bodies said. "Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media.

"No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her."

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Olympic gymnastics medal saga is far from over

But the current order could be changed further with the potential of Romanian competitor Maneca-Voinea's placing being upgraded. In the final Maneca-Voinea and Barbosu tied for third but Barbosu finished ahead of her countrywoman due to her superior execution score.

Maneca-Voinea was penalised for going out of bounds in her routine, something the Romanian gymnastics team challenged. However, it was also outside the one-minute timeframe and was therefore rejected by the judges.

The judging panel deducted her 0.1 points for stepping out of bounds while spinning around to start a tumbling pass. However, video evidence showed Maneca-Voinea's heel did not actually step on the boundary and without the deduction she would have claimed gold. And Romanian gymnastics legend, Nadia Comaneci, has launched an appeal with CAS on behalf of the Romanian athlete, asking for a review of the gymnast's routine as vision showed she didn't step out of bounds.

The Romanian federation asked CAS to restore 0.1 to Maneca-Voinea’s score for a penalty that was given to her “without basis.” Comaneci - who was the first gymnast to ever receive a perfect 10, - has sent 'several requests' to Morinari Watanabe, the president of the International Gymnastics Federation, calling for Voinea’s floor exercise to be reanalysed.

“I sent the videos to (Watanabe) because it’s important for the girl to know what she did wrong and what she didn’t do wrong,” Comaneci said. “He told me that, for him, the athletes are his sons and daughters and he wants to take care of them.” It is unclear whether the federation will re-analyse the routine or make any further changes to scores from the event.