PARIS, France — Jordan Chiles was the last competitor during the floor exercise finals on Monday and it initially looked like she was going to miss out on a medal. But a few minutes later, her heartbreak turned to jubilation as she found out she won the bronze.
So, what exactly happened and what's an inquiry?
Chiles initially received a 13.666 from the judges - which put her in fifth place.
After some delay, her total was boosted by 0.1 when she filed an inquiry about the difficulty component of her score. That adjustment pushed Chiles past Romanians Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea and into third.
Since after the 2004 Summer Games, the International Gymnastics Federation made it so a score is divided into two parts. The difficulty or “D-score” is what a gymnast does. The execution or “E” score is how well they do it.
What is an inquiry in gymnastics?
An inquiry is a verbal, and then written, challenge of the score of a gymnast's routine, according to the USA Gymnastics website. Basically, if the gymnast or coach thinks they didn't get the right score for some specific reason, they can make an appeal. The inquiry can be resolved by using video review.
According to Sports Illustrated, making an appeal officially costs $300 - but the money is returned if the inquiry is upheld.
Olympian John Roethlisberger explained on the live broadcast the inquiry specifically centered on a tour jete full, which Jordan Chiles didn't get full credit on during last week's qualification round or initially during Monday's routine.
He explained that the Team USA coaches thought she completed the skill better this time and had "nothing to lose" in appealing. The judges decided to give it to her, which was enough to jump onto the medal podium.
Olympian Laurie Hernandez added during the broadcast that the reason inquiries exist is "sometimes they do miss it."
Meanwhile, Simone Biles added an 11th medal to her Olympic career with another silver. Brazil's Rebeca Andrade won gold in the floor exercise by .033.
After the competition, gymnastics great Nadia Comaneci was furious about the situation that left her fellow Romanian in tears.
“I can’t believe we play with athletes mental health and emotions like this… let’s protect them,” the nine-time Olympic medalist wrote on X.
A similar situation happened with Team USA's Aly Raisman during the 2012 Olympics. She was the last gymnast to compete on the balance beam and initially was in fourth, until judges reviewed her routine again and raised her score to the bronze medal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
