U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles took a ride on the emotional rollercoaster on Monday in Paris.
She was last to perform at the women’s individual floor final and, initially, finished fifth out of nine competitors. It looked like she would miss out on a medal.
But as Romania’s Ana Barbosu celebrated her bronze, waving to the crowd at Bercy Arena with her nation’s flag in hand, a new set of scores flashed up on the big screen.
As NBC’s John Roethlisberger explained on the broadcast, Chiles initially did not receive credit for an element called a tour jete full, a split leap followed by a full spin on the way down.
Chiles had been docked for this same move in qualifying on July 28 because she did not complete the full spin after the split leap. Chiles’ coaches thought she performed the move better in the final than she did in qualifying, so they went to the judges and asked them to reevaluate the element. The judges ultimately gave Chiles credit for the full spin, one tenth of a point, and that bumped her up from fifth to a bronze medal.
Chiles finished with a score of 13.766, .066 ahead of Barbosu.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade edged out Simone Biles for the gold, and Chiles grabbed her first individual Olympic medal.
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