With Jordan Chiles at the center of a saga that could see her miss out on an Olympic bronze medal, Simone Biles posted a message of support to her USA gymnastics teammates on Instagram.
“Sending you so much love, Jordan,” Biles, the Team USA star who will leave Paris with four medals, wrote in a Story on Saturday, along with a heart emoji. “Cheer up Olympic champion! We love you!”
Chiles was initially awarded the bronze medal in the women’s floor exercise final following an investigation that allowed her to move up from fifth to third place on the scoring list, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport Decided on Saturday The conclusive review was submitted four seconds after the one-minute deadline.
No official announcement has been made yet that Chilis will have to return his bronze medal, but USA Today reports The International Olympic Committee will make that decision, it said.The decision drops Chile to fifth place, with Romania’s Ana Barbos dropping to third place.
“We are shocked by the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision regarding women’s floor exercise,” USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said. They wrote in a joint statement posted to X on Saturday.“We believe the investigation into the difficulty of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise was conducted in good faith and in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring.
“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 support her.”
2024 Paris Olympics
The bronze medal was Chile’s first in an individual event, and the country also won the gold medal from the US team, which won the women’s individual all-around final.
According to a report from Olympics.com, Chiles will return to UCLA for one more collegiate season and also won a silver medal in the women’s team final.
In the women’s floor exercise final, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won the gold medal, while Biles won the silver medal. During the award ceremony, Biles and Chiles bowed to Andrade, who was standing on either side of her on the podium, which became a hot topic online.
Chiles later told TODAY.com that the bow was her idea and that Andrade deserved to be recognized for “achieving so much for her sport and for her country.”
