Olympics: TAS cancels investigation that led Jordan Cheli to bronze

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has overturned the investigation that led to Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal and Romania’s Ana Barbosu can take her place on the podium.

PARIS – Romania’s Ana Barbosu could replace American Jordan Chiles in the Olympic floor gymnastics bronze medal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport threw out an appeal by Chiles’ coach who got her on the podium.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled on Saturday that American coach Cecil Landy’s request to add 0.1 to Chile’s score, which pushed Chile from fifth to third, fell outside the one-minute window allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport wrote in its ruling that the initial order of finish should be restored, with Barboso third, his partner Sabrina Manica Voinha fourth and Chile fifth. The organization added that the IAAF should determine the final rankings “in accordance with the previous decision,” but left it to the IAAF to decide who would receive the medal behind gold medalist Rebecca Andrade of Brazil and silver medalist Simone Biles of the United States.

FIG spokeswoman Mickie Bernsen said in an email to The Associated Press that the organization would issue a statement “in due course” but did not provide a timeline.

The Romanian Olympic Committee has requested three bronze medals.

Chiles hinted at the decision in an Instagram story on Saturday, saying she was heartbroken and “taking this time and removing myself from social media for the sake of my mental health, thank you.”

Barboso and Manica-Voinia missed out on medals in Monday’s round-robin final after finishing level on 13.700 points. Barboso thought he had won the bronze medal over Manica-Voinia on a tiebreaker (higher score) and began celebrating with the Romanian flag.

Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially scored 13.666, placing her in fifth place, just behind Manika Voinya. Landi called for an investigation into Chiles’ result and said that after the awards ceremony there was nothing to lose.

The judges approved the appeal, beating Chiles, Barboso and Manika Voinya to the final spot on the podium.

Romania also appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to add 0.1 to Manica Voinha’s score because she was wrongly penalized for going out of bounds during her routine. The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected that appeal on Saturday.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement it was “devastated” by the ruling.

“The research into the difficulty of evaluating Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was presented in good faith, and we believe it is in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” the organization wrote.

Chiles, 23, became a target on social media after the late change, with critics calling for him to return the medal or make racist comments. Chiles posted on X earlier this week that it was “funny how people still can’t be happy for someone.”

Chiles’ mother, Gina Chiles, slammed the critics in a post, writing that she was “sick” of the derogatory comments directed at Jordan.

“My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with a huge heart and an unparalleled level of sportsmanship,” Jenna Chiles posted. “And they call her disgusting things.”