Team USA's Simon Biles and Sunisa Lee have spoken out publicly in support of Jordan Chiles after she was stripped of her Olympic bronze medal.
It was confirmed on Sunday (August 11) that Chiles would be stripped of her bronze medal - her only solo Olympic medal - following a controversial decisio by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Chiles, 23, had been given the bronze - her first ever individual Olympic medal - in the floor final on August 5 after she had originally finished in fifth place based on the judges' scores.
However, USA Gymnastics' coach Cecile Landi had quickly submitted an inquiry into the decision, claiming that Chiles had been scored too low for difficulty, specifically for a leap that involved performing a split in the air while turning 540 degrees.
Her appeal was successful and the judges boosted Chiles's score from 13.666 to 13.766, making her take the third-place spot over Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who both scored 13.700.
The Romanian Olympic committee appealed the decision one day later, and it was confirmed on Saturday that a CAS judge had ruled that Landi had submitted her initial inquiry within 1 minute and 4 seconds - which was four seconds too late for it to count.
The ruling stated: "The inquiry submitted on behalf of Ms Jordan Chiles in the Final of the women’s Floor exercise was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline provided by article 8.5 of the 2024 FIG Technical Regulations and is determined to be without effect."
It was then revealed that the medal would be taken back from Chiles and instead given to Barbosu, despite the Romanian Olympic committee having originally requested that the IOC/FIG should place "all three athletes [Chiles, Barbosu, and Maneca-Voinea] in 3rd position and the allocation of medals to all three athletes."
Before the CAS ruling was officially announced, Chiles appeared to address the issue on her Instagram story, where she shared a series of broken heart emojis, before adding: "I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you."
Her Team USA gymnastics teammates have since rallied around Chiles, sharing supporting messages of their own.
Her teammate Simone Biles, who is also a close friend, addressed the situation on her own Instagram story by sharing a photo of them hugging as she added: "Sending you so much love Jordan. Keep your chin up Olympic champ! We love you!"
Sunisa Lee also took to her own Instagram story to voice her support for Chiles, writing: "All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges??
"Completely unacceptable. This is awful and I'm gutted for you Jordan. I got your back forever Jo.
"U have all my flowers and you will ALWAYS be an Olympic champion."
USA Gymnastics also shared a statement with the outlet following the controversial decision, writing: "We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise.
"The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring."
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