US, UCLA gymnast forced to return Olympic medal; decision to be appealed

A star U.S. gymnast participated in one of the more memorable moments in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, when she won bronze in the women’s floor exercise, stepping out of the shadow of her teammates and earning an individual medal for the first time in her career.

Now, due to a technicality, that moment has been erased.

Days after U.S. and UCLA gymnast Jordan Chiles received her medal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that an appeal made by Chile’s coach, which boosted her score enough to lift her from fifth to third in the event, came four seconds later than allowed in the sport of gymnastics.

Coaches are given a one-minute period to appeal any scoring decision after scores are announced.

The decision means that Chiles must give up her bronze to Romanian Ana Barbosu.

“We firmly believe that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the subsequent CAS appeal process that need to be addressed,” the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee statement said.

The U.S. committee argues that Chiles’ score that netted her third place in the competition was the correct score, and it was an error by the officials that prompted the now-void appeal in the first place.

In the next steps, the U.S. plans to appeal the decision, which is likely to send the case back to court.

“The initial error occurred in the scoring by FIG, and the second error was during the CAS appeal process, where the USOPC was not given adequate time or notice to effectively challenge the decision,” said the USOPC statement, which was released Sunday.

Chiles, who earned a gold medal as a member of the U.S. women’s gymnastics squad in the team event, took place in the medal ceremony with superstar teammate Simone Biles, who earned silver. The Oregon native currently attends and competes for UCLA.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.