Simone Biles could have taken home four gold medals during the 2024 Paris Olympics but missed because of a scoring inquiry.
A scoring inquiry for Biles’ floor routine was never registered, per a video submitted on Monday, September 16, as part of Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles’ appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
In the clip, Biles, 27, asked coach Cécile Landi, “Is he asking?” to which Landi replied, “He said he did.” Cecile’s husband and coach, Laurent Landi, proceeded to speak in French. Cecile turned to Biles and said, “They didn’t send it.” Cecile then asked Laurent, “What about Jordan? You want to try?”
The video was provided by director Katie Walsh and production company Religion of Sports, who received permission to film as part of Biles’ documentary, Simone: Biles Rising. (The first two episodes dropped on Netflix earlier this year.)
Biles placed in second, earning a 14.133 in the floor final with a 6.9 difficulty. If she had received full credit for her split lead, she would have earned an additional 0.10 in difficulty and a 14.233. The score would’ve placed her above Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who received a 14.166 and earned the gold medal.
Biles ultimately won three gold medals and one silver medal at the Paris games, bringing her total to 11 overall.
“Honestly not a big deal for me, Rebeca had a better floor anyways,” Biles wrote via X on Tuesday, September 17. “Upsetting how it wasn’t processed but I’m not mad at the results.”
Biles concluded her post, “BUT JUSTICE FOR JORDAN. ya hear me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Chiles initially placed fifth in the women’s floor exercise final on August 5, with Romania’s Ana Barbosu announced as the third-place winner. However, after Team USA requested an inquiry into the difficulty of one of her skills, she moved to third place.
The following day, Team Romania filed an inquiry into Team USA’s request, noting that it was made seconds after the one-minute deadline. Days later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport agreed with the request and reverted Chiles’ score back. Chiles was stripped of her medal on August 10.
One month later, Chiles’ attorneys announced in a statement that she filed an appeal in the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland to overturn the call in “continuation of Chiles’ pursuit of justice for the bronze medal.” Attorney Maurice Suh noted that the filing was supported by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
Amid the medal controversy, Biles shared her support for Chiles. “Do we think they did the correct procedures to come to this ruling? No,” Biles told People in August. “That’s really why we want that justice for Jordan and why we’re going to keep supporting her and uplifting her.”
