Real Reason Olympics Committee Stripped Jordan Chiles Of Medal

Jordan Chiles | YouTube

United States Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles did enough to win a Bronze Medal at the Paris Olympics. However, the Olympic Committee chose to strip her of the medal because of a technicality that had nothing to do with her or her performance. Not only that but when proof was brought in that the Committee was wrong, they still refused to accept it and stripped her of the medal anyway.

Here is why the Olympics stripped Jordan of her medal and why they refused to reconsider.

Paris Olympics Strips Jordan Chiles Of Bronze Medal

When Jordan Chiles finished her performance in the floor exercise at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, she ended up listed in fifth place. The United States coach appealed the score and believed she wasn’t given credit for the difficulty of her moves. The judges agreed, readjusted the score, and she moved up to third.

Jordan Chiles | YouTube
Jordan Chiles | YouTube

Romania, whose gymnast Ana Bărbosu was in third but dropped to fourth with the re-scoring, protested the change after the Olympics. Romania claimed that the U.S. coach took longer than the prescribed time to appeal. A coach has only 60 seconds to appeal after the scores. According to Romania, the U.S. coach took 64 seconds.

The committee agreed with the protest and said they were reverting Chiles’ score to the wrong one and were reallocating the Bronze Medal to Bărbosu. Romania’s head asked that both women receive a Bronze Medal, but the Committee rejected the proposal. Instead, they ignored the judge’s revised scoring, reverted Chiles’ score to the wrong one, and refused to talk anymore about it.

United States Protest Ignored By Olympics Committee

The United States appealed the decision. What happened next is puzzling. The U.S. showed video evidence that the U.S. coach submitted the inquiry in 47 seconds, 13 seconds earlier than the deadline. However, even with proof they got it in on time, the CAS refused to budge.

Jordan Chiles and Simone Biles at Paris Olympics | YouTube
Jordan Chiles and Simone Biles at Paris Olympics | YouTube

“USA Gymnastics was notified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday that their rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement (via ESPN).

This means that, despite the proof the United States followed the rules, the governing organization refuses to acknowledge their mistake. It also means that Ana Bărbosu will remain a Bronze Medalist only by technicality and not by actual score.

The United States said it won’t stop defending Jordan Chiles, and they will go all the way to the Swiss Federal Tribunal if needed to plead her case. This would have been Jordan’s first solo medal.

What are your thoughts on the Jordan Chiles controversy? Are you surprised that the Olympic Council refused to accept the proof that they were wrong? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Shawn Lealos
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14 Comments

  1. USA Gymnastics seems to be the ones saying their own evidence is “conclusive”, which makes sense because they are biased in favor of themselves.. The Court did not say that and USAG did not show us the notification from the court saying this.

    1. Not sure what you mean? First the judges at the event recognized her win. Second the committee did convey to the USA team the following as stated in the article:
      “USA Gymnastics was notified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday that their rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented,”

      Seems to me they are admitting it is conclusive and are simply picking at hairs now.

  2. I heard that all athletes get 4 minutes but the last one gets 1 minute to lodge an inquiry. If that is true that rule
    needs to be changed. That would settle the issue.

    1. If true that is the most ludicrous rule I’ve ever heard, and at my age I’ve heard quite a few. This basically removes for most the ability to even reach the judges. The coach isn’t going to see anything till final scores are announced, at which point they have to still mentally promises what is presented against what they saw and know of the rules. To expect that to happen in one minute is borderline insanity.

  3. When are the judges of the sport held accountable it was their fault for not scoring correctly the first time?!! Why wasn’t there correction upheld from then on out. Accountability is partly why our world is going to hell!!

  4. If the proof is there, it’s poor sportsmanship shown by the Olympics Committee to the world and especially to the youngsters who dream of going to the Olympics. Before jumping to conclusions, they had a responsibility to vet the proof. Shame on them for not “manning up”.

  5. an appeal should have not been necessary if the issue was with the judges. as well Jordan Chiles is in fact the bronze winner in the ridiculous controversy. whether she keeps the actual medal or not she is the one with the best score at the end of the day. shame on anybody who takes it away. at most the judges should be stripped of there jobs as judges at the end of the day. in all reality they are the issue who did a bad job. both girls were not done fairly by bad judging.

  6. I think they were mean spirited with their decision, those young people’s work so hard , they should have giving another bronze to the Romanian athlete. Shame on the person who made this final decision.

  7. The judges were wrong. Plain and simple!!!!
    Both athletes should both receive medals in order that it be fair.

  8. Chiles didn’t deserve the medal. The other girl’s foot never touched out of bounds but the judges deducted points from her for that. In the end, the medal was awarded correctly. The process was ugly but the outcome was correct.

  9. Whatever the real score is, or the corrected accurate score WINS! Period! If the scoring was done incorrectly, the correct revised score is how the decision should be made. All the follow up and heartache is mindless, if the correct score is posted. Chiles had the higher score so she retains the medal…,end of story .

  10. Actually the one receiving the medal isn’t the girl who stepped out of bounds. Ana Barbosu is who they are giving the bronze to and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea is her teammate who they said stepped out of bounds. They both were given the same score but Ana was put above her because her routine had a higher difficulty. Unfortunately when Sabrina’s coaches appealed her score they challenged the difficulty of her routine and not the technical aspect so whether she was inbounds or not was never checked. Personally I feel that they should give the medal to the best overall performance/score via replay because that athlete is the one who did the best and in the end everyone would be able to agree. But when you have it decided by this back and forth politics no one will be happy in the end regardless of who wins.

  11. Has anyone researched the rule that does not allow the governing body to reverse a decision even though conclusive evidence is presented?

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