USA’s Chiles stripped of gymnastics bronze

American gymnast Jordan Chiles has been stripped of the bronze medal she won in Monday’s women’s floor final.

The International Gymnastics Federation (Fig) confirmed Romania’s Ana Barbosu has been upgraded from fourth to third after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

Cas upheld an appeal by the Romanian Olympic Committee that an inquiry submitted by the US team about Chiles’ score fell outside the one-minute limit for such appeals and should be disregarded.

Chiles’ original score has now been reinstated, dropping her back into fifth place.

USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee said they were “devastated” by the decision and condemned the “consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks” that Chiles has received on social media during the appeal process.

Chiles, 23, who won gold in the women’s team event, posted four broken heart emojis on her Instagram story and later wrote: “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”

Chiles initially scored 13.666 in Monday’s final, putting her in fifth place in the competition and leading Romanian gymnast Barbosu, who scored 13.7, to believe she had won the bronze medal.

However, after the inquiry by Chiles’ coach Cecile Landi with regard to her difficulty rating, officials upgraded Chiles’ score to 13.766, placing her third.

The adjustment left Barbosu, who had begun celebrating her medal, upset and led to a protest from the Romanian team.

The Romanian Olympic Committee successfully appealed to Cas on the grounds the inquiry was “untimely” as it had been submitted four seconds after the one minute time limit.

Cas reinstated Chiles’ score of 13.666 on Saturday, which was later confirmed by Fig.

The International Olympic Committee said it will reallocate the bronze medal to Barbosu and is in touch with the US team regarding the return of the medal and the Romanian Olympic Committee to discuss the reallocation ceremony.

USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee said: “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.”

Speaking about the online abuse of Chiles, they added: “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.”

Chiles’ team-mate Simone Biles won silver in the event, with Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade taking gold.

On the podium, Biles and Chiles bowed down to Andrade in an iconic moment of the Games.

 

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