Simone Biles is voicing her support for teammate Jordan Chiles amid the Team USA star’s ongoing bronze medal dispute on the floor exercise.
Romania’s Ana Barbosu replaced Chiles as the Olympic bronze medalist in the gymnastics floor exercise after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned an appeal by Chiles’ coach that catapulted her onto the podium.
CAS ruled Saturday that U.S. coach Cecile Landi’s appeal to have a point added to Chile’s score, which dropped it from fifth to third place, came outside the one-minute timeframe allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). The ad hoc committee wrote that Landi’s appeal came one minute and four seconds after the score was posted.
The CAS wrote that the initial finishing order should be restored, with Barbosu in third place, her teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea in fourth place and Chiles in fifth place. The organisation added that the FIG should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the previous decision” but left it up to the FIG to decide who would get the medal behind gold winner Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and silver medallist Simone Biles of the US.
Biles responded to the controversy on Instagram: “Sending all my love to you, Jordan. Keep your head up, Olympic champion! We love you!”
FIG spokeswoman Meike Behrensen said in an email to The Associated Press that the organization would issue a statement “in due course” but did not offer a timeline.
Simone Biles (left) and Jordan Chiles (right) of Team USA after their floor routine
Ana Barbosu reacts after competing in the women’s gymnastics floor final
The Romanian Olympic Committee had called for three bronze medals to be awarded. Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu reacted to the verdict by saying that “justice has been done” and that “in the end, the truth prevailed.”
The ruling adds another layer to what has been a difficult few days for all three athletes. Romanian gymnastics legend and 1976 Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci feared for Barbosu’s mental health because of the harrowing sequence in which she went from bronze medallist to fourth place.
“I can’t believe we’re playing with athletes’ mental health and emotions like this… let’s protect them,” Comaneci posted on X earlier this week.
Comaneci, at the same time, criticised the judges for the way they scored Maneca-Voinea’s routine: the gymnast was deducted 0.1 points for going out of bounds, but viral replays showed she narrowly stayed within bounds. Comaneci urged the Romanian Olympic Committee to protest, which it did, but CAS rejected that appeal.
Chiles hinted at the decision in an Instagram story on Saturday, saying she is heartbroken and is “taking this time and stepping away from social media for my mental health, thank you.”
Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea missed out on medals in Monday’s floor final after finishing with equal scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze against Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker (a higher execution score) and began celebrating with a Romanian flag.
Chiles was the last athlete to compete and was initially given a score of 13.666 that placed her in fifth place, just behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi called for an investigation into Chiles’ score.
“At that point we had nothing to lose, so I thought, ‘Let’s just go for it,’” Landi said after the awards ceremony. “I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and thought, ‘What?’”
The judges granted the appeal, moving Chiles ahead of Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea for the final podium spot.
USA Gymnastics said in a statement that it is “devastated” by the ruling.
“The investigation into the difficulty value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was submitted in good faith and, we believe, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” the organization wrote.
Chiles, 23, became the target of criticism on social media after the late change, with critics calling for her to return the medal or making racist comments. Chiles posted on X earlier this week that “it’s funny how people still can’t be happy for someone.”
Barbosu, after returning home to Romania, made it clear that he had no problem with Chiles.
“I just want everyone to be fair, we don’t want to start criticising other athletes of any nationality,” Barbosu told reporters. “We as athletes don’t deserve something like that, we just want to perform at our best and be rewarded based on our performance. The problems are with the judges, their calculations and decisions.”
Chiles’ mother, Gina Chiles, slammed critics in a post, writing that she was “tired” of the disparaging comments being made about Jordan.
“My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with a huge heart and unmatched level of sportsmanship,” Gina Chiles posted. “And she is being called disgusting things.”
Uncertainty also colors what had been a beautiful moment on the medal podium, when Chiles and Biles knelt to honor Andrade after the Brazilian star won her fourth medal in Paris.
“It was the right thing to do,” Biles said of a moment that soon went viral, with even the Louvre itself suggesting it might be worthy enough to have a place somewhere near the Mona Lisa.
That memory now carries a complicated and emotional postscript.