$At the Olympics, seconds matter. Anyone who’s watched the Games — or, really, any athletic competition — knows the difference even a fraction of$

The most controversial Olympics moment came down to four seconds

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2024-09-23 13:00:02

At the Olympics, seconds matter. Anyone who’s watched the Games — or, really, any athletic competition — knows the difference even a fraction of a second can make. It’s the difference between a basketball going up just before the buzzer sounds instead of the moment after and the difference between a championship and an elimination.

This persnickety counting is only supposed to matter on the field of play itself — the court, the pitch, and, in the case of gymnastics, the mat. But at the women’s floor final in Paris, four seconds off the podium have become more important than any flips and twists done during the competition. These four seconds have spiraled into a monthslong saga that implicated the officials managing the sport and immiserated the athletes who’ve been caught up in this mess.

It began in the seconds after the women’s floor exercise final. US gymnast Jordan Chiles completed her routine and sat down to await her score. She was the last one to compete, and her mark would determine the final rankings of the artistic gymnastics event in Paris. Chiles had helped the US team take gold but kept missing out on opportunities to win solo medals. This floor final was her one and only shot on any individual hardware.