American gymnast Jordan Chiles has lost her bronze medal in the women’s floor exercise at the Paris Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled on Saturday that the jury had wrongly approved an investigation that moved her up from fifth place.

As a result, 18-year-old Romanian Ana Barbosu was awarded the floor medal by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) later on Saturday.

A devastated Chiles posted four broken hearts on Instagram, adding: “I am taking this time to step away from social media for the sake of my mental health, thank you.”

US superstar teammate Simone Biles said: “We send you so much love, Jordan. Chin up, Olympic champion! We love you!”

In response to the requests of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and gymnasts Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, the CAS ruled that the appeal against Chiles’ difficulty level had been submitted after the one-minute time limit for such examinations had expired and should not have been granted.

After the review, Chile’s score, which won team gold with the USA, was upgraded to 13.766, enough to take bronze behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and Biles.

However, it was a devastating blow for Barbosu, who had already won bronze with her score of 13.700.

Both she and Maneca-Voinea, who was relegated to fifth place, left the competition in tears.

“I can hardly express my feelings in words, I can’t believe it,” Barbosu told Romanian media on Saturday after winning her country’s only medal in the gymnastics competition.

“When I heard the news, I was scared it wasn’t true, and when I was sure, I hugged my parents and called everyone who had helped me.”

Such scoring requests are regularly made at gymnastics competitions, some are rejected, others are confirmed, which leads to a change in the score.

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu spoke of a “scandalous situation” and announced a boycott of the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

The drama took place on Monday in the final competition of the gymnastics competitions in the Bercy Arena.

The CAS stated in its statement that its ruling referred to Chile’s score and that it had to be reset to the original value of 13.666.

However, the CAS did not make a decision on the final ranking of the floor exercises and stated that the FIG must award the medals.

USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in a joint statement that they were “devastated” by the ruling.

“The request regarding the difficulty level of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was submitted in good faith and, in our opinion, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” the governing bodies said.

“Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subjected to constant, completely baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media.

“No athlete should be subjected to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who carry them out, support or instigate them.”

“We commend Jordan for her integrity both on and off the competition floor and we continue to stand by her and support her.”

bb/ea/gj