Why was Jordan Chiles stripped of her bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024? Everything about IOC's decision explained 

By Soumik Bhattacharya

Modified Sep 17, 2024 14:33 GMT

Jordan Chiles has been stripped off her bronze medal from the floor exercise event at the Paris Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport responded to an appeal from the Romanian Gymnastics Federation. Ana Barbosu has thus been given the third spot while Chiles will be fourth.

The International Olympic Committee recently directed the 23-year-old to return her medal. Chiles finished third in the competition following a successful appeal that her coaches used to review the marking of her performance.

This appeal led to her score moving from 13.666 to 13.766. Owing to this, she clinched the third position on the podium above two Romanian gymnasts, Anna Barbosu and Sabrina Moneca-Voinea, who were initially placed in the third and fourth positions on the leaderboard respectively before the appeal.

However, this controversial appeal intrigued the Romanian Gymnastics Association to file an inquiry at the Court of Arbitration of Sport which examined the case and came to the findings that Chiles' appeal was not made within the official guide time (within 1 minute) and owing to which her initial score of 13.666 in the apparatus finals was restored.

Following this ruling from the Court of Arbitration, the IOC has decided that Jordan Chiles' bronze medal will be reinstated to Romania's Anna Barbosu who finished fourth behind Chiles after the appeal. The IOC statement stated:

"We are in touch with the National Olympic Committee of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee regarding the return of the bronze medal"

Owing to this order from the Court of Arbitration of Sport, Barbosu will win the first Olympic medal of her career while her teammate Sabrina Moneca-Voinea will finish in the fourth position on the leaderboard above Chiles who will take fifth position.

The US Olympic and Paralympic committee extend their support to Jordan Chiles amidst this controversy

Jordan Chiles at the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials Women's (Image via: Getty)

Amidst this medal controversy in the floor exercises finals of the Paris Olympics and this decision of the CAS, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee issued a statement in which they have kept their opinion regarding this case.

The statement also identified the numerous social media trolls that Chiles had to withstand following this decision of the CAS and the IOC.

It further added:

"Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her."

Following the immense social media attack on her, Jordan Chiles has also detached herself from all of her social media handles.