Chiles’ Bronze Medal Controversy

In a surprising turn of events, U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles has lost her bronze medal in the women’s floor exercise at the Paris Olympics. This decision comes after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which stated that the protest made by her coach was submitted too late.

Chiles initially ended up in fifth place with a score of 13.666. However, after a successful protest from her coach, Cecile Landi, her score was adjusted to 13.766, moving her up to third place.

The ruling caused an uproar from the Romanian delegation, who felt wronged by the sudden change. Their athlete, Ana Barbosu, originally finished in fourth place, but after the protest, she was pushed down. The situation escalated to the point where Romania’s Prime Minister vowed to attend the event in protest.

As it turns out, the inquiry was submitted one minute and four seconds after Chiles’ routine, violating the strict one-minute window for such appeals. Because of this timing issue, her original score was reinstated, which means that Barbosu will now take home the bronze medal instead.

Despite this setback, Chiles still has a gold medal from the women’s team all-around competition and won silver in the same event at the Tokyo Olympics. The decision has left USA Gymnastics feeling devastated, as they believed the appeal was made in good faith to ensure accurate scoring.

Throughout the controversy, Chiles has faced a wave of harsh criticism on social media. USA Gymnastics has publicly condemned the online bullying and praised Chiles for her integrity and sportsmanship, both during the competition and outside of it.