Olympic judges ignored Simone Biles' score review that could have given her gold, breaking US tie with China
Newly released footage shows the women's gymnastics judges at the Paris Olympics floor routine final neglected to process a request from U.S. coaches for a review of Simone Biles' routine. Had the request been considered and her score changed with what the U.S. coaches saw, it likely would have resulted in Biles taking gold.
Biles initially won silver with a score of 14.133, just 0.333 points behind Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, who won her second Olympic gold after a famed comeback from three ACL tears.
The footage, submitted to the Swiss Federal Tribunal as part of a court case involving American teammate Jordan Chiles' attempt to claim bronze in the event, was released to the public in an official Swiss court filing.
It shows Biles asking coach Cecile Landi if he's asking the judges about her appeal. The coach's wife, Laurent Landi, replied to Biles, saying, "He said he did."
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Laurent was then heard speaking French before Cecile turned back to Biles and said, "They didn't send it."
Biles was penalized 0.6 points for stepping outside of the competition mat. If she had she gotten full credit for her split leap, it would have given her an additional 0.10 in difficulty and a 14.233. That would have put her ahead of Andrade, who scored a 14.166.
If Biles had won gold in that event, the U.S. would have finished with 41 gold medals at the Paris Games and in sole possession of the gold medal lead. Instead, the U.S. settled for a tie with China at 40 golds.
It also would have taken away one of the many highly discussed moments of the Paris Olympics, when Chiles and Biles bowed down to Andrade on opposite sides of the medal podium. It was, before further review, the first all-Back gymnastics podium in Olympic history.
Biles responded to the footage in a post on X Wednesday, saying she is happy with the outcome and is more focused on Chiles' court case.
"Rebeca had a better floor anyways, upsetting how it wasn’t processed, but I’m not mad at the results," Chiles wrote. "BUT JUSTICE FOR JORDAN."
Biles has won more Olympic medals than any gymnast in U.S. history with 11, seven of them being gold with team events included. Her 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals make her the most decorated gymnast in history.
The video was provided to Chiles by the director of Biles' latest documentary project, "Simone Biles: Rising," on Netflix. Director Katie Walsh and production company Religion of Sports, which received permission to film Biles and her team during Olympic competition. This footage has now been released to help Chiles in her case for the bronze medal, which was stripped and given to Romania's Ana Barbosu at the end of the Paris games.
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According to court documents filed in the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland Monday, Chiles' attorney has submitted footage from the company producing Biles' Netflix series that they allege shows visual evidence in favor of Chiles. They claim the footage proves that the request for the review that bumped Chiles' score up was not submitted past the deadline, according to multiple reports.
Barbosu had initially clinched the bronze medal for floor and began celebrating on the mat. But then U.S. coaches appealed to judges over Chiles’ score, and a review resulted in a 0.1-point increase, which moved Chiles ahead of Barbosu for the bronze medal.
The initial ruling resulted in 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 next day, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) ruled Chiles would have to return the medal. However, multiple reports indicate she hasn't and won't return it.
Chiles' lawyers have argued that the CAS, which made the final ruling, "violated Chiles’s fundamental ‘right to be heard’ by refusing to consider the video evidence that showed her inquiry was submitted on time — in direct contradiction to the findings in CAS’s decision."
Her lawyers also claimed that CAS President Hamid G. Gharavi had a conflict of interest. Gharavi acted as counsel for Romania for nearly a decade and had been an active representative of the nation at the time of the CAS decision to strip Chiles of her medal.
Chiles gave her first sit-down interview about the incident during a panel at the Forbes Power Women's Summit 2024 Wednesday. The gymnast noticeably choked up when she was asked about the topic.
"To me, everything that has gone on is not about the medal, it's about, you know, my skin color," Chiles said, tearing up.
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