Days after legendary gymnast Nadia Comaneci criticized the Paris judges for changing the scores that gave Jordan Childs a medal, she has now come to the defence of the gymnast.
A controversial reversal of scoring changes in the women’s floor exercise final was announced Saturday and could ultimately result in Chile being stripped of its bronze medal, which was awarded to the skater after judges increased her score and rejected a medal that had originally gone to Ana Barbos of Romania.
Chills announced on her Instagram Story that she was taking a break from social media for the sake of her mental health. Since then, her comment section on social media has been inundated with messages of support from fans, but also insults from others.
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Jordan Chiles stands on the podium at the Pan American Games on October 23, 2023 in Santiago, Chile. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
Comaneci tagged both Barbos and Chilis in a post on X on Saturday, using the hashtag to plead with people around the world to stop attacking gymnasts at this year’s Olympics.
“Fans around the world please stop attacking these young women. This is unacceptable and cruel,” Comaneci wrote.
But Comaneci’s plea was in response to a post she made earlier in the day in which she expressed pride in Barbos, her Romanian teammate Sabrina Maneca-Boinea, who dropped from fourth to fifth in the floor exercise final after an initial score change, and Chiles herself.
The post, posted shortly after news of Chiles’ score change broke, featured a filter over Barbos’ photo declaring her the bronze medalist.
“I am so proud of you… you brighten up this sport,” Comaneci wrote.
Olympic legend Nadia Comaneci slams judges for controversial floor exercise score change
Nadia Komuneci appears on the red carpet ahead of the Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony at the Cibeles Palace on April 22, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Jose Breton/Pix Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Comaneci, who won five gold medals as an Olympian and became the first gymnast in history to receive a perfect score of 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics, on Monday blasted the judges for making the scoring changes that brought Barbos to tears and put Chiles on the podium.
“I can’t believe they would treat the mental state and emotions of their athletes like this… Protect them,” Comaneci wrote to X.
Barbos was holding a Romanian flag at the time, but when he looked up and saw the score change on the board, he dropped the flag, covered his face with his hands and walked out in tears.
Meanwhile, Childs joined her U.S. teammate Simone Biles, who won silver, and Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade, who won gold, on the first all-Black gymnastics podium in Olympic history. Biles and Childs even bowed on either side of their Brazilian opponent, 25-year-old Andrade, who pumped her fists in celebration.
Simone Biles, Rebecca Andrade and Jordan Chiles attend the awards ceremony for the women’s floor exercise at the Paris Olympics on August 5, 2024. (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
The overturning of the verdict on Saturday came after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the tournament’s review panel had improperly authorized the investigation. Chiles’ score increased. The company argued that the appeal should not have been allowed because it was filed one minute after the deadline for investigation.
On Saturday afternoon, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) announced Childs’ original score of 13.666 was reinstated, dropping her to fifth place, while Barbosa jumped into third place with a score of 13.766. The announcement did not specify Childs’ medal status.
On Sunday, the IOC ordered Chilis to return his bronze medal.
USA Gymnastics and the USOPCE said in a statement they were “shocked” by the ruling.
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“Throughout the appeals process, Ms. Jordan has been subjected to consistent, completely unfounded and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. No athlete should be treated this way. We condemn the attacks and those who participate in, aid or abet them. We commend Ms. Jordan for conducting herself with integrity on and off the field and we continue to stand by her and support her.”
Chile is only the third gymnast in history to have an Olympic medal stripped – the other two being China’s Dong Fangjun and Romania’s Andrea Raducan, who both were stripped of their medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
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