“How much did USA pay for this medal” - Fans left outraged as Jordan Chiles wins bronze over Ana Barbosu after last-minute appeal at Paris Olympics

Jordan Chiles won her first individual Olympic medal when she claimed bronze on the floor exercise at the ongoing Paris Olympics. However, her podium finish didn't come without controversy. The American claimed the medal after a last-minute scoring change, leading to many fans expressing outrage over what they felt was an unfair decision that robbed Romania’s Ana Barbosu.

Chiles got her campaign at the 2024 Games off to a strong start when she, alongside teammates Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera stormed to gold in the team event. The American was also in the running to make the all-around final but missed out when Biles and Lee qualified ahead of her.

However, the two-time World Championships silver medalist did qualify for the floor finals where she won the bronze. On Monday, August 5, Chiles was the last of nine floor exercise finalists in action at the Bercy Arena. The gymnast posted a score of 13.666 after some shaky landings, and for a moment it looked like Romania's Ana Barbosu had won the bronze with a score of 13.700.

However, Chiles' coaches chose to appeal her score and was awarded an extra tenth for her difficulty, leading to her score being changed to 13.766 and awarding Chiles her first individual Olympic medal. This ruffled many feathers, especially given that Romania's appeal to have the score for their floor routine reviewed had been rejected earlier.

Many fans felt that the last-minute change in scoring was unfair and were quick to express their discontent. One fan on X (formerly Twitter) wrote:

“Stole the bronze from Ana Barbosu by crying to the judges to have her score changed. What a f***ing shameless loser. How much did the USA pay for this medal?”

Another fan expressed similar sentiments, writing:

“Of course they refused Romania's appeal but accepted the appeal from USA and robbed us (of) the medal that Barbosu & Voinea deserved MORE. F**k this tbh🤡.”

Here are a few more reactions from fans online:

“On behalf of Britain, I'm so f***ing sorry for Sabrina and Ana, they did SO WELL and deserved to be treated better,” one wrote.

“I'm Brazilian and was watching and I thought that Sabrina was so great that she would be close to Rebeca, it was so unfair that Jordan Chiles got third place,” another added.

“This is so messed up. This girl clearly deserved it, she never won an Olympic medal and they made her think she had it just to change the scores. This is wrong,” one X user commented.

“They have robbed Ana Barbosu,” a fan opined.

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Jordan Chiles celebrates winning the Paris Olympics team gold

Coming into the Paris Games, Jordan Chiles was already an Olympic medalist, having won silver in the team events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, the American and her teammates had declared well ahead of the 2024 Olympics that they were going for gold this time around, calling it their redemption tour.

Chiles and co. were exemplary in the team finals in Paris and won by a huge margin. The 23-year-old was quick to celebrate her win on Instagram, posting photos from the finals and writing:

“Where them girls at!!!!.... Oh wait, we right here as Olympic champions!!! Guys we got a ahhhhhh-lympic gold medal!!!”

Including her campaign at the Paris Games, Jordan Chiles is now a three-time Olympic medalist. The American’s resume also boasts of three World Championships medals.