Fans Outraged After Gymnast Jordan Chiles Was Excluded From Olympic Final Despite High Score

Gymnast Jordan Chiles was excluded from the all-around final at the Paris Olympics because of a controversial rule that only allows two athletes from each country to compete in it, according to The Athletic.

Chiles did help the United States win a team gold on July 30, but that’s a different competition than the individual all-around competition.

Fans expressed outrage that Chiles won’t be competing in the all-around final even though she registered the fourth-highest score during qualifications, according to USA Gymnastics. “The 2 per country rule is dumb. Jordan Chiles DESERVES to be in the AA final! . . . The Olympics is about competing with the best of the best,” wrote one fan on X.

According to USA Gymnastics, the two athletes competing for Team USA will be Simone Biles and Suni Lee, leaving Chiles out. The all-around qualification standings show Chiles in fourth place after Biles, Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, and Lee.

“It’s devastating for her,” Chellsie Memmel, the team’s technical director, told The Athletic. “It’s the nature of the sport and it’s unfortunate the two-per-country rule. We knew it was going to be a battle going in, and it really was. Back and forth through the day. It just so happened today was Suni’s day, and that sucks for Jordan. It’s going to take some time, and that’s OK.”

The Athletic reported that Chiles “did everything right,” having “nailed four routines,” but Lee surpassed her by .067, earning the slot. According to The Athletic, Chiles would make the final if she had been “representing any other country here in Paris.”

The results posted by USA Gymnastics show that other countries’ athletes also failed to make the competition, into which 24 athletes are allowed, because two other of their country’s athletes placed higher. For example, Italy’s Elisa Iorio is in that predicament, the standings show.

Chiles does get to compete for a medal in the floor exercise competition, according to USA Gymnastics.

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Fans Argued That the Rule Was Unfair to Jordan Chiles

The rule upset fans on X. “I hate that the 2 per country rule has robbed Jordan Chiles of getting an all-around individual medal. Like who cares if USA gets 3 gymnasts on the podium! That’s a harsh rule,” wrote one.

Another person wrote, “I understand the “two athletes per country” rule for individual all-around, but I can’t help but feel like if someone scores high enough to put them in the top 5 a la Jordan Chiles, make a dang exception.”

Wrote another fan, “The only two per country rule for advancing in the Gymnastics Overall is a dumb. Jordan Chiles should be advancing with Simone and Suni!”

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A Former Top Gymnast Called the Rule ‘Stupid’

According to the Sporting News, the rule was “meant to create competitive balance within the Olympic gymnastics competition.”

The rule is designed to prevent “the powerhouse countries from scooping up all the medals,” USA Today reported.

Gymnastics History dates the rule to concerns that took root in 1973. The year before, in 1972, four Soviet gymnasts competed in the women’s vault finals, “four Japanese gymnasts in the men’s floor finals, and five Japanese gymnasts in the men’s high bar finals.” That’s out of six gymnasts for each final, Gymnastics History reports, adding that the rule was first in place for the 1976 Olympics.

The rule has long been controversial, USA Today reported.

“It’s just stupid. I think the two-per-country rule is the dumbest thing ever,” gymnast Aly Raisman said in 2016, after Gabby Doubles was left out of the all-around final because Biles and Raisman finished ahead of her, USA Today reported.

Raisman added, according to USA Today: “Who cares if there’s five Chinese girls in the finals? If they’re the best, they should compete.”

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