Simone Biles breaks silence after Jordan Chiles ruling sees USA star’s Olympic bronze medal put in jeopardy

Simone Biles voices her support for teammate Jordan Chiles amid the Team USA star’s bronze medal dispute on the floor exercise.

Romania’s Ana Barbosu is likely to replace Chiles as the Olympic bronze medallist in the gymnastics floor exercise after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned an appeal by Chiles’ coach that put her on the podium.

CAS ruled Saturday that an appeal on floor by U.S. coach Cecile Landi to add .1 to Chiles’ score, which moved Chiles from fifth to third, fell outside the one-minute window allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). The ad hoc committee wrote that Landi’s appeal came 1 minute and 4 seconds after the score was announced.

CAS wrote that the original finishing order should be restored, with Barbosu third, teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth. The organization added that the FIG should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the above decision,” but left it up to the FIG to decide who would receive the medal behind gold medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and silver medalist Simone Biles of the United States.

Biles responded to the controversy on Instagram: “Sending you lots of love Jordan. Keep your chin up, Olympic Champion! We love you!”

Meike Behrensen, a FIG spokesperson, said in an email to The Associated Press that the organization would make a statement “in due course” but did not provide a timetable.

The Romanian Olympic Committee had asked for three bronze medals. Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu responded to the verdict by saying that “justice was done” and that “in the end, the truth prevailed.”

The ruling adds another layer to what have been difficult days for all three athletes. Romanian gymnastics legend and 1976 Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci feared for Barbosu’s mental health after a painful run that saw her go from bronze medalist to fourth.

“I can’t believe we’re playing with the mental health and emotions of athletes like this… let’s protect them,” Comaneci posted on X earlier this week.

Comaneci simultaneously criticized the judges for the way they scored Maneca-Voinea’s routine — the gymnast was stripped of 0.1 points for stepping out of bounds, but viral replays showed her narrowly staying within the bounds. Comaneci urged the Romanian Olympic Committee to protest, which it did, but CAS rejected that appeal.

Chiles hinted at the decision in an Instagram story on Saturday, saying she was devastated and “taking this time to distance myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”

Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left out of the medals in Monday’s floor final after finishing with equal scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze from Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker – a higher execution score – and began celebrating with a Romanian flag.

Chiles was the last athlete to compete and was initially given a score of 13.666, placing her fifth, just behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi requested an investigation into Chiles’ score.

“At that point, we had nothing left to lose, so I thought, ‘We’re just going to give it a shot,'” Landi said after the awards ceremony. “I honestly didn’t think it would happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and thought, ‘What?’

The jury granted the appeal and passed Chiles, who thus passed Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea, for the final spot on the podium.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement that it was “devastated” by the ruling.

“The investigation into the difficulty of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercises was submitted in good faith and, in our opinion, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate judging,” the organization wrote.

Chiles, 23, became a target on social media after the late change, with critics calling for her to return the medal and making racist comments. Chiles posted on X earlier this week that “it’s funny how people still can never be happy for anyone.”

When Barbosu returned to Romania, she stressed that she had no problems with Chiles.

“I just want everyone to be fair, we don’t want to start singling out other athletes of any nationality,” Barbosu told reporters. “We as athletes don’t deserve something like that, we just want to perform as well as we can and be rewarded based on our performance. The problems are with the jury, with their calculations and decisions.”

Chiles’ mother, Gina Chiles, slammed the critics in a post, writing that she was “tired” of the derogatory comments directed at Jordan.

“My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and an unmatched level of sportsmanship,” Gina Chiles posted. “And she gets called disgusting things.”

The uncertainty also colours the beautiful moment on the podium, when Chiles and Biles knelt to honour Andrade after the Brazilian star won her fourth medal in Paris.

“It was just the right thing to do,” Biles said of a moment that quickly went viral, with even the Louvre itself suggesting it might deserve a spot near the Mona Lisa.

That memory now has a complicated and emotional postscript.

Barbosu recently posted fresh criticism from a Romanian gymnastics legend, revealing that the original challenge was approved due to favoritism toward the Americans.

“I hear the words that the coaches told us almost every day in the training room more vividly than ever,” wrote former Romanian Olympic gymnast Sandra Izbasa-Bianca in Romanian, as quoted by E! Online‘You, as Romanians, have to be more than perfect to leave no room for interpretations!’

‘And here it proves itself again!’ she added. ‘Girls, head up and back straight! Keep believing in your dreams! Go Romania!’

It’s unclear whether Izbasa-Bianca meant that Team USA benefits from favoritism, but she wouldn’t be the first to make that claim.

“The pro-American bias in gymnastics is so insanely obvious it’s sad,” one fan wrote after Chiles won bronze. “I’m sure the judges felt intimidated by the potential controversy if they didn’t quiet the poll and knew that an American response >>> would be a Romanian response.”

Barbosu herself shared a message expressing her gratitude for all the support she has received since her disappointing fourth place finish.

“Thank you to everyone who cheered me on before, during and after the match,” Barbosu wrote on Instagram in English.