The IOC said it had asked the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) to arrange a “reallocation” ceremony following its decision to strip the US team’s Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal in Monday’s controversial floor exercise final.
Childs was the last skater competing in the eight-person floor exercise final, and her performance was initially awarded a score of 13.666, good enough for fifth place. Athletes have the right to request a review of any scores awarded by the judges, and Childs and her coach requested that her performance’s difficulty score be reviewed, arguing that it did not reflect one of the moves in her routine.
The judges upheld the review and awarded Chilis an additional tenth of a point, enough to secure the bronze medal over Romanian gymnast Ana Barbos, who was already celebrating her bronze medal win when the decision was announced.
Barbos was in tears after being relegated to fourth place, and Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolac described the decision as “shameful” and said he would boycott tonight’s closing ceremony.
The Romanian Olympic Committee appealed the scoring to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled yesterday that the appeal had been successful, on the grounds that the US team’s request for a review of Chile’s score had been submitted four seconds later than the rules allow.
The CAS ruling reinstated Chiles’ original points, dropping her to fifth place behind two Romanian gymnasts, with Barbos winning the bronze medal.
As part of its appeal, Romania had asked that Chile not be stripped of its bronze medal, but rather that it be awarded to Chile, Barbos and another Romanian gymnast, Sabrina Maneca Boinea.
Romania also appealed to the CAS a point awarded to Maneca-Boinea for being penalized for going out of bounds when replays showed he was not out of bounds. Regardless of the outcome of the match against Chile, Maneca-Boinea would have won the bronze medal had he not been penalized, but the CAS denied the appeal because the coaches did not ask for the deduction to be reviewed during the tournament.
“Following the decision of the CAS regarding the women’s floor exercise final and the International Gymnastics Federation’s revised rankings, the IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Barbos (Romania),” the IOC said in a statement.
“We are in contact with the Romanian NOC regarding the reallocation ceremony and with the USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal,” he added.
After the CAS decision was announced, Childs posted four heartbroken emojis to her Instagram Story, adding that she would be refraining from social media for the time being for the sake of her mental health. The 23-year-old has been subject to a barrage of abuse on social media since the controversy over the grading of her routine erupted.
