Jordan Chiles And Ana Barbosu's Olympic Medal Controversy Explained

It's the Olympics scandal that has been dominating headlines around the world — that's right, we're talking about the fight over the bronze medal for the women's gymnastics floor final. At the center of the controversy are American gymnast Jordan Chiles and Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, who have been playing a tragic game of hot potato with the third place trophy.

Although the Paris 2024 Olympics concluded on August 11, 2024, it seems the Summer Games refuse to let these two athletes — or their rapt audience — have a rest. Originally, Barbosu received a score that leveled her up past the competition and landed her the bronze medal. However, a score change resulted in Chiles quickly replacing her on the medal podium. Unfortunately, though, several days after Chiles had already taken her victory lap, it was announced that a mistake had been made and that the American gymnast would need to return her bronze medal, which would then go back to Barbosu. 

The response from Chiles herself and the wider American gymnastics community has been one of heartbreak and protest. But how did this all happen? Let's take a look back at this divisive floor final and complicated scoring to figure out how it is we got to this point. 

It all started on August 5, 2024 when the women's gymnastics floor final was held at Bercy Arena in Paris, France. Team USA was out in full force, with cartwheeling extraordinaires Simeone Biles and Jordan Chiles set to compete. However, they were up against some stiff competition thanks to Brazil's Rebeca Andrade well as Olympians from Italy, China, Japan, Romania, and more. 

The final got off to a tricky start when two of Romania's gymnasts, Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, were given the exact same score — 13.700. It had already been decided that Andrade would take the gold with a score of 14.166 and Biles would be given the silver medal with a score of 14.133, but the question remained: Who would be joining them on the medal podium? Following a tiebreaker in which Barbosu was given a higher execution score, it seemed that the tiny blonde from Focsani edged out the competition to win a bronze medal. 

But what about Chiles? The Washington native was the last athlete to step onto the iconic spring floor. Noted for her charisma and extroverted nature, the dancer and gymnast took the audience's breath away with her upbeat routine set to a Beyoncé song. However, after the set's close, Chiles' score came in at a disappointing 13.666 — not enough to bump Barbosu out of the third place spot. Chiles placed fifth, behind Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea.

For a moment, it seemed that the medal winners for the women's floor final had been assembled. However, Jordan Chiles' coach, Cécile Canqueteau-Landi, felt that something wasn't right. She submitted an official inquiry to the judges. As NBC Olympics explained, this is a way of verbally challenging the score of a routine. Simply put, Canqueteau-Landi asked the judges to revisit Chiles' score and potentially add a few tenths of a point — something that, surprisingly, can make a huge difference when it comes down to the wire in elite gymnastics. 

Canqueteau-Landi claimed that Chiles had not been given enough points for successfully executing a rotating split leap — a move in which the gymnast jumps off one foot to spin in split position mid-air. The type of split that will receive top points differs depending on a gymnast's level, but for an Olympian of Chiles' caliber, it would be expected of her to land a 180-degree split.

After some deliberation, the judges decided that Chiles' should have originally been scored higher for her successful split leap. Her score was then changed from 13.666 to an impressive 13.766. Ana Barbosu's celebrations came to a screeching halt, while Chiles looked at the scoreboard in shock, realizing that she would now be stepping atop the medal podium with her teammate Simone Biles. 

After the judges ruled on the inquiry, it seemed that Jordan Chiles had won the bronze medal fair and square. When her score change was announced, the athlete leaped into the air and burst into tears before jumping into her coach's arms. Her teammate and close friend, Simone Biles, wasn't too far behind. Photographers captured the GOAT celebrating along with her fellow medal-winner, screaming and smiling next to Chiles and Cécile Canqueteau-Landi. For her part, Romania's Ana Barbosu was seen dropping her nation's flag in complete surprise before leaving the arena with tears in her eyes.

After collecting her bronze medallion, Chiles recounted the experience with NBC, saying, "This is just a dream come true. It's my first time ever in an event final. Like we said, it was a redemption tour, and I just wanted to come out and do the best that I could. So, this medal means everything. First event final, first event medal, like, oh my gosh! I have no words, but I'm very proud of myself." Of course, one athlete's dream come true is another's nightmare, as was (temporarily) the case for Ana Barbosu.

At the end of the day on August 5, 2024, it was Jordan Chiles who stepped atop the medal podium to accept her third place win in the women's gymnastics floor final. And with Simone Biles joining her as the second place silver medallist, it seemed that the gymnasts had definitely achieved their goal of making the Paris 2024 Olympics a "redemption year" for Team USA.

However, national allegiances melted away when audiences realized that this podium moment was bigger than any one country. Together with Brazil's Rebeca Andrade taking home the first place gold medal, Biles, Chiles, and Andrade created a historic moment. 

Biles and Chiles bowe to Andrade, who beamed while lifting her arms in celebration. What makes Chiles' addition on the medal podium even sweeter is that it was her idea to bow to Andrade in the first place, gifting us with quite the Kodak moment. Biles told BBC Sport, "It was an all-black podium so that was super-exciting for us, but then Jordan was like 'should we bow to her?' and I was like 'absolutely.'" 

After Jordan Chiles accepted the bronze medal, the Romanian Olympic Committee implored the International Gymnastics Federation to reconsider not only Jordan Chiles' revised score but that of another Romanian gymnast, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea (via E!). In Maneca-Voinea's case, she lost 0.1 points after it was determined that her foot had landed outside of the bounds of the spring mat during the floor final. However, video replays revealed that Maneca-Voinea's heel had actually landed within bounds.

The Prime Minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, took to Facebook on August 6 to confess that he was planning to boycott the Olympics' Closing Ceremony due to the separate situations with the gymnasts' scores. Romanian sports legend and nine-time Olympic champion in gymnastics, Nadia Comaneci, also took to X to defend Barbosu. She wrote, "I can't believe we play with athletes mental health and emotions like this... let's protect them #anabarbosu."

The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) revisited Jordan Chiles' score for the women's floor final, eventually announcing the inquiry made by Chiles' coach that led to the Olympic judges increasing her score, and thus leveling her up to third place, was invalid. This wasn't due to Chiles' rotating jump split being deemed subpar. Instead, it all came down to an issue of timing. Coach Cécile Canqueteau-Landi's inquiry, it turns out, was submitted outside of the 60-second window that The International Gymnastics Federation (IOC) allows for coaches and officials to request a score re-examination.

In a twisted turn of events, CAS recommended that the line-up default back to its original make-up, with Brazil's golden girl Rebeca Andrade taking home first, Team USA GOAT Simone Biles standing at silver, and the Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea coming in at third and fourth place respectively. This would leave Chiles at her original standing of fifth place, very far from the bronze medal she once claimed as her own. Other governmental bodies fell into lockstep with CAS. The IOC released a statement, confirming, "We are in touch with the (national Olympic committee) of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with (the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee) regarding the return of the bronze medal" (via USA Today).

Gymnast Jordan Chiles transformed from young girl who fought against body shaming, racial discrimination, and dark family troubles to achieve her dreams of becoming an Olympic champion. However, even those who seem the most resilient are susceptible to cyberbullies when the going gets tough. Following the announcement that CAS was repealing her coach's inquiry into her final score on the women's floor final, and thus revoking her bronze medal win, Chiles released a brief reaction post on social media. 

In an Instagram Story, Chiles posted a series of broken heart emojis against a simple black background. What followed was another post that read, "I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health thank you." While there are many online tools that can actually help your mental health, such as meditation apps, Instagram is not one of them — and it seems that the trolls in her comment section had gotten the better of Chiles.

On August 9, 2024, the athlete's mother, Gina Chiles, revealed that she had also reached her limit. In response to the toxic online commentators who were pitting Chiles against the two Romanian gymnasts, Gina tweeted, "The racist disgusting comments are still happening in 2024. My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and a level of sportsmanship that is unmatched ... and she's being called disgusting things" (via E!).

Following the announcement that Jordan Chiles will have to relinquish her bronze medal, USA Gymnastics released a statement that read, "We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women's floor exercise" (via E!). Rejecting any claims that Chiles or her coach had used fraudulent methods to claim the prize during the Paris medal ceremony, the organization went on to write, "The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles' floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG [International Gymnastic Federation] rules to ensure accurate scoring."

Chiles' coach, Cécile Canqueteau-Landi, also took to social media to rail against the decision. She wrote on Instagram, "I didn't think [the inquiry] would be accepted and at my surprise it was. Jordan won this bronze medal and I didn't steal anything from anyone. I simply did my job and fought for my athlete. Do I feel bad for the Romanian athlete? Of course I do! It was so sad and heartbreaking to see but it is the sport! You don't have to like it but you do have to respect the outcome and more importantly respect Jordan and not drag her down because you disagree. She EARNED that bronze medal. ... I couldn't be more proud and excited!"

Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera also stepped up to the plate by speaking out in support of their compatriot. "Sending you so much love Jordan," Biles wrote in an Instagram Story, "Keep your chin up Olympic champ! We love you!" (via E!).

On Sunday, August 11, 2024, USA Gymnastics hit back at the decision by The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) and The International Gymnastics Federation (IOC) that gymnast Jordan Chiles must return her bronze medal. However, it wasn't just that the suits behind USA Gymnastics felt these governing bodies were toying with a young gymnast's mental health.

No, the USA Gymnastics committee also claimed to have proof that Chiles' had been awarded the bronze medal fair and square. Although CAS recommended revoking the medal due to Chiles' coach not submitting her request for re-scoring within the allotted one-minute window, USA Gymnastics offered up video proof that reportedly shows that coach Cécile Canqueteau-Landi's inquiry had been made in time – with 13 seconds to spare, to be specific.

Sadly, though, it wasn't long before this Hail Mary attempt was shot down. USA Gymnastics released a statement revealing that they were "notified [by Cas] on Monday that their rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented." Despite this rejection of their video evidence, though, it seems that the leaders behind USA Gymnastics willing to continue the fight for Chiles to keep her medal. The organization went on to say, "We are deeply disappointed by the notification and will continue to pursue every possible avenue and appeal process, including to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, to ensure the just scoring, placement, and medal award for Jordan."

In the first few days after she was replaced on the medal podium by Jordan Chiles, Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu wrote in an Instagram Story, "Thank you everyone for the support messages! I will take a break from the social media" (via E!). However, as the story has developed, Barbosu has called off her social media hiatus to address the situation and, surprisingly, offer a message of support to Chiles. She also spoke directly to her fellow Romanian gymnast, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who found herself embroiled in the scandal after initially tying with Barbosu. 

In an Instagram post, Barbosu wrote, "Sabrina, Jordan, my thoughts are with you. I know what you are feeling, because I've been through the same. But I know you'll come back stronger. I hope from deep of my heart that at the next Olympics, all three of us will share [the] same podium. That is my true dream!" (via Daily Mail).

Is this a likely outcome? It's hard to tell. With each passing day, new wrinkles in this scandal emerge. On August 13, new accusations came out against The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), with documents revealing that a member of its arbitration panel, Hamid Gharavi, has had decade-long ties to the Romanian government, thus calling into question the neutrality of the panel. Whether Barbosu will be given Chiles' bronze medal remains to be seen, but what is clear is that this Olympic-sized scandal will surely be one for the history books.