Four crucial seconds could determine whether or not Jordan Chiles keeps bronze medal

Team USA supporters were heartbroken for Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles this weekend, when it was announced - just hours before the 2024 closing ceremony - that she'd had her bronze medal revoked.

The prestigious accolade was then handed to Romanian athlete Ana Barbosu, who'd landed in fourth during the women's floor final on Monday 5 August.

Spectators were horrified by the news, with many wondering what could possibly have sparked such a decision by the sporting tournament's organisers - and almost a week after the event took place.

It turns out, however, that Chiles' victory was stolen from her due to mistakes made during a tragically brief four-second period - although even this has now been called into question.

For those out of the loop, Chiles initially scored 13.666 in the final of the floor routine, which landed in her fifth place.

After reassessing the performance when her disappointed coach filed an inquiry over the lacklustre mark, however, judges upgraded her score to an even more impressive 13.766, which saw her place third, above Romanian athlete Barbosu.

Tokyo 2020 Silver medallist Chiles' teammate Simone Biles landed in second, narrowly missing out on Gold to Brazil's Rebeca Andrade.

Disappointed by the proceedings, however, Barbosu later filed a complaint to the Romanian Olympic Committee, claiming that Chiles' inquiry had been filed outside of the allotted one-minute window for complaints.

While other athletes and their coaches were given three-four minutes to file for grievances, being that Chiles was the last gymnast to perform, she only had one minute to process the mark and file a complaint.

After the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) caught wind of Barbosu's complaint, however, they said Chiles' complaint had been over the one-minute mark by a mere four seconds.

As such, judges were forced to disregard the update to Chiles' score, putting Barbosu back in third place and stripping the American of her illustrious Bronze.

Chiles was then returned to her fifth-place position, behind fellow Romanian athlete Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, too.

In the hours after the result was announced yesterday (11 August), Chiles wrote on Instagram: "I am taking this time to remove myself from social media for my mental health thank you," alongside a string of broken heart emojis.

But now Team USA has claimed that their inquiry was well within the one-minute deadline, throwing the amended result into question.

They've claimed they have video evidence which proves Chiles' coach Cecile Landi submitted her inquiry within 47 seconds of the score being posted, and then made a second statement within 55 seconds - both within the one-minute deadline.

Team USA explained they'd only just got access to the footage, which is why they didn't present it as evidence during the appeals process.

So, in a shock twist, Chiles might actually get her medal back if Team USA can prove they weren't four seconds late submitting appealing Chiles' score.