CAS ruling could award bronze to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu

ParisRomanian gymnast Ana Barbosu could replace Jordan Chiles as the Olympic floor bronze medallist after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned an appeal by the American’s coach who catapulted her onto the podium.

CAS ruled that Cecile Landi’s appeal to have 0.1 added to Chiles’ score, which catapulted her from fifth to third place, occurred outside the one-minute time limit allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

In its ruling, CAS wrote that the original order of positions should be restored, with Barbosu in third place, her teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea in fourth and Chiles in fifth.

The organization added that the FIG should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the previous decision,” but left it up to the FIG to decide who would take the medal behind gold medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and silver medalist Simone Biles of the United States.

FIG spokeswoman Meike Behrensen said a statement from the organisation would be issued “in due course”.

The Romanian Olympic Committee had asked for three bronze medals to be awarded. Chiles posted a message saying she would withdraw from social media “for my mental health.” The U.S. gymnastics federation said in a statement that it was “devastated” by the ruling.

Chiles, 23, became the center of a controversy on social media. Several critics called on her to return the medal. Others made racist comments.

The gymnast posted on X earlier this week that “it’s funny how people still can’t be happy for someone.”