In the 2024 Women’s Gymnastics Paris Olympics, Jordan Chiles executed her mat routine on Aug 5. She received a total of 13.666 points, awarding her fifth place, until her coach filed an inquiry.
According to the guidelines, a coach can make an inquiry as long as it’s under one minute after the athletes are shown the scores. Chiles’s coach, Cecile Landi, rushed over to file an inquiry to get her deserved points, 47 seconds after, and again 55 seconds into the one-minute mark.
After, the judges decided to award Chiles with a new score of 13.766, moving her up to third place, and Romanian gymnast, Ana Bǎrbosu, down. Chiles was the first to notice and immediately started jumping in excitement and celebrated with Landi and teammate, Simone Biles.
According to CNN, this was a win for the entire podium and winning teams because, for the first time, all top three places were held by black women.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation along with Ana Bǎrbosu didn’t agree with the revision of Chiles’s score, and submitted an official challenge with it, in hopes of getting Bǎrbosu’s bronze medal, which was arguably never hers, back. They claimed that Landi was four seconds too late to enter her inquiry about Chiles’s scoring and that the score should have never been changed.
Almost a week passes, while the judges discuss what they should do, and finally, five days later, on Aug 10, they decide to uphold the Romanian challenge to change the scores back to the original ones.
Chiles posted on her Instagram story that due to extremely hurtful and discouraging comments, she would be taking a break from social media. “I have no words. This decision feels unjust and comes as a significant blow, not just to me, but to everyone who has championed my journey,” Chiles adds.
The USA Gymnastics team submitted a letter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, hoping they would reconsider their decision. They submitted video footage with the timestamp to prove they were under the minute, however, were rejected because The Court of Arbitration for Sport rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented.
“Given these circumstances, we are committed to pursuing an appeal to help Jordan Chiles receive the recognition she deserves. We remain dedicated to supporting her as an Olympic champion and will continue to work diligently to resolve this matter swiftly and fairly,” the team said.
A USA Today article states, “CAS later said it was unable to reconsider the decision, despite receiving video evidence from USA Gymnastics that the verbal inquiry was filed within 47 seconds.”
Former gymnast, junior Katelyn Willis, said “I think it is wrong because gymnastics scores are done in the moment; they shouldn’t go back later to make decisions after giving out placements. It is unfair and demeaning to the athlete.”
A lot of people think it is fair for both athletes to receive a bronze medal due to the complications and because it is not their fault the scores were changed multiple times.
