Olympic judges ignore potential gold medal winner Simone Biles’ score, breaking bet with China
Newly released footage shows that women’s gymnastics judges in the floor exercise final at the Paris Olympics did not heed a request from the U.S. coach to review Simone Biles’ program. If the submission had been reviewed and his score changed based on what the American coach saw, Biles would likely have ended up winning the gold medal. Biles was initially awarded the silver medal with 14.133 points, just 0.333 points behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who made a famous comeback from three ACL losses to win her second Olympic gold medal.
The footage was presented to the Swiss Federal Court as part of a lawsuit filed by U.S. teammate Jordan Childs seeking a bronze medal in the event, and was made public in an official Swiss court filing. It shows Biles asking her coach, Cécile Lundy, if she was questioning the judges about her appeal. Her wife, Laurent, responded to Biles, “He said so.”
Laurent can then be heard speaking French, and Cécile turns to Biles and says, “They didn’t send him.”
Biles was penalized 0.6 points for leaving the mat. Had she received perfect marks for the split vault, the difficulty would have increased by 0.10 points, giving her a score of 14.233. That would have put her ahead of Andrade, who received 14.166 points. Had Biles won the gold medal in this event, the United States would have finished Paris with 41 gold medals and taken sole possession of first place in the gold medal standings. Instead, the U.S. had to settle for a tie with China with 40 gold medals. It also takes away one of the most talked-about moments from the Paris Olympics, when Chiles and Biles bowed to Andrade on opposite sides of the podium. Pending further investigation, this was the first podium in Olympic history to be made up entirely of backstroke gymnasts. Biles responded to the images in an X-rated post on Wednesday, saying she was pleased with the outcome and was focusing more on Chiles’ legal case.
“Rebekah had the best performance anyway, it’s disappointing she didn’t get treatment, but I’m not mad at the results,” Chiles wrote. “But justice for Jordan.”
Biles is the most decorated gymnast in U.S. history, with 11 Olympic medals, including seven gold medals, including team events. She has won 11 Olympic and 30 World Championship medals, making her the most decorated gymnast in gymnastics history. The video was provided to Childs by the director of Biles’ latest documentary project, “Simone Biles: Rising,” for Netflix. Director Katie Walsh and her production company, Religion of Sport, received permission to film Biles and her team during Olympic competition. The footage was released in support of Chile’s bronze medal, which was stripped at the end of the Paris Games and awarded to Ana Barbos of Romania.
Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles of the United States pose with their Paris 2024 Olympic medals after the women’s gymnastics floor final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Accord Arena on August 8. Paris, Jan. 5, 2024. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
According to court documents filed Monday with Switzerland’s highest federal court, Chiles’ lawyers presented footage from Biles’ Netflix series production company that they said would serve as visual evidence in Chiles’ favor. According to multiple reports, they claim the video proves that Chile’s reapplication for the points was not submitted after the deadline.
Barbos began by winning the bronze medal on floor exercise and then celebrated on the mat. But then the U.S. coaches appealed the Chilean score to the judges, who increased it by 0.1 points and awarded Chile the bronze medal over Barbosa.
The initial decision sparked a wave of backlash. Gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci criticized the scoring change on social media, and Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said he would boycott the Paris Olympics’ closing ceremony over the scoring decision.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later ruled the judging panel at the event had improperly granted an inquiry that increased Chiles\’ score. The following day, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) ruled that Chile must return the medal. However, numerous reports indicate that it has not and will not do so. American Simone Biles competes in the women’s gymnastics team final at the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Bercy Arena in Paris on July 30, 2024 (Aytac Unal/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Chilean’s lawyers argue that the CAS, which made the final decision, “violated his fundamental right to a hearing” by refusing to consider video evidence supporting the timely filing of the application, which is in direct contradiction to the conclusions of the CAS decision.”
His lawyers also filed a complaint with CAS President Hamid G. Garavi had a conflict of interest: he was a Romanian lawyer for nearly a decade and was actively representing the country at the time of the CAS decision to strip Chile of its medals. Childs spoke for the first time in a sit-down interview about the incident during a panel discussion at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit 2024 on Wednesday, and visibly choked up when asked about the topic. “For me, what’s happening has nothing to do with medals, but the color of my skin,” Chiles said through tears.
