The Trials of Jordan Chiles at the Paris Olympics
We place immense expectations on our Olympic athletes, asking them to embody grace and humility, to carry the Olympic spirit even as they pursue their personal aspirations. They are expected to adhere to the rules and accept their outcomes, no matter how they unfold, with dignity. Jordan Chiles has epitomized all these qualities during the Paris Olympic Games.
However, is it too much to expect the officials who hold her Olympic dreams in their hands to exhibit the same level of integrity and fairness? What has transpired — both for Chiles and, by extension, Romania’s Ana Bărbosu — is a disheartening episode of borderline technical negligence that has manipulated the emotions of two deserving athletes who have committed no wrongdoing.
On Monday afternoon at the Bercy Arena, Chiles concluded her floor routine in the event final with a score of 13.666, narrowly missing the 13.700 awarded to both Bărbosu and teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, thus placing just off the medal podium. Bărbosu, who achieved a higher execution score than her teammate, was initially awarded the bronze medal. However, Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, believed there was a scoring error regarding the difficulty of one of Chiles’ elements, prompting her to request a review from the judges. The technical chair reviewed the request and acknowledged that Chiles had indeed been scored inaccurately. Consequently, her score was elevated to 13.766, making her the rightful bronze medalist, while Bărbosu was demoted.
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As Chiles wept tears of joy and was enveloped in a bear hug by Simone Biles, Bărbosu was left in despair, devastated by the review that relegated her to the agonizing fourth position. This situation encapsulated the Olympic experience, filled with both triumph and tribulation.
However, it has since been revealed that the U.S. delegation failed to meet the deadline for filing an inquiry, according to a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. According to the rules, inquiries must be submitted within one minute of a routine’s conclusion. Landi’s request was made too late — precisely four seconds late, as noted by a USA Gymnastics source. While this may seem fair — even in a subjective sport like gymnastics, adherence to deadlines is crucial — the resulting chaos arose from a series of errors, none of which were caused by the gymnasts themselves, yet they are the only ones who have suffered the consequences.
Consider the absurdity of the situation: Chiles’ difficulty score was wrongly recorded and only corrected after a coach suggested a review, yet this judging mistake has since been disregarded because the Romanians realized that someone failed to monitor the clock properly, allowing an inquiry that should not have proceeded. As a result, Chiles is reverted back to her original score of 13.666 (despite the fact that her difficulty should have initially warranted a score of 13.766), and the Court of Arbitration for Sport has deferred the decision to the FIG, the international gymnastics governing body, to determine who rightfully earns the bronze. The Romanians have proposed that all three gymnasts share the bronze medal, which seems equitable but would require an asterisk next to their names.
This entire debacle took five days to resolve. For Chiles, those five days were filled with emotional highs and lows, particularly after she had already navigated the tumultuous landscape of gymnastics regulations. During the qualification round, she had finished fourth in the overall all-around standings. While the top 24 women advance, Chiles, despite her fourth-place finish, was third on the U.S. team. Olympic gymnastics operates under the rule that only two women from each delegation can proceed to the finals, which meant that her teammate, Sunisa Lee, who outscored Chiles by a mere 0.067, was selected to advance instead of her.
After enduring the disappointment of being left out, Chiles spent two days recovering but then demonstrated true Olympic spirit by contributing to the U.S. team’s gold medal victory two days later. She also supported her teammates Lee and Biles during the all-around competition while focusing her energies on the event final, eager to claim her first personal medal.
Chiles performed last in the floor final and freely admitted that she could have executed her routine more cleanly. As she was preparing to leave, Landi submitted the inquiry, and when the announcer revealed her revised score, she finally experienced her moment of triumph. However, in a remarkable display of sportsmanship, Chiles chose to celebrate her peers rather than herself. Spotting Biles, the two hatched a plan, and as Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade was honored with the gold medal, Chiles and Biles bowed in respect.
This extraordinary act of grace came from a young woman who had consistently shown composure and class throughout the week. For five glorious days, Chiles reveled in the weight of an Olympic medal around her neck, embracing the quintessential American tradition of a victory lap, which included a visit to Disneyland Paris and appearances on morning talk shows. She confidently declared herself, That Girl.
Now, however, That Girl has announced her decision to take a break from social media to prioritize her mental health. It seems that the people in charge have finally managed to extinguish Jordan Chiles’ Olympic spirit. Her last social media post? A series of heartbroken emojis.
(Top photo of Jordan Chiles after the floor routine at the Paris Olympics: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
