This post was updated Sept. 29 at 9:35 p.m.

Like any other Olympic athlete, Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles has worked her whole life to place on the podium of the world’s most elite sporting event.

At what should have been the pinnacle of her career, Chiles instead faced a roller coaster of flipping emotions that could rival any triple-twisting double salto backward that occurred on the floor that day.

Chiles, who placed fifth before Team USA coach Cecile Landi submitted a scoring appeal after the judges failed to correctly assess her routine’s difficulty, seemed to have clinched the bronze medal – her first individual medal at the Games – in the women’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise final in Paris.

With a third-place finish behind compatriot Simone Biles and Brazilian gold medalist Rebeca Andrade, Chiles became UCLA gymnastics’ most decorated Olympian – what should’ve been a life-changing moment.

But just days after Chiles relished in her bronze-medal finish, the Court of Arbitration for Sport found that Team USA had filed its inquiry just four seconds after the deadline for scoring appeals had passed. Although Team USA responded with video evidence to prove its request was within the timeframe, CAS refused to reconsider the decision, officially ending the case and revoking Chiles’ medal.

To unfairly strip away Chiles’ medal for a mistake on the part of the judges counters the spirit of impartiality and sportsmanship – a tenet of the Olympic Games.

Romania’s Ana Barbosu, who originally placed third before Chiles’ judging error inquiry was processed, was awarded the Olympic bronze after Chiles’ challenge was deemed invalid.

“I can’t help but think about Sabrina (Maneca-Voinea) and Jordan right now,” Barbosu said during a recognition event that took place in Bucharest, the headquarters of the Romanian Olympic Committee. “It’s a difficult situation for us with so many uncertainties and overwhelming emotions.”

“The Olympic spirit is more important than any misunderstanding between authorities,” she added.

Maneca-Voinea, another Romanian gymnast who initially placed fourth ahead of Chiles, was also in contention for the bronze but was incorrectly penalized for stepping out of bounds. Her appeal to CAS to reconsider the scoring of her routine was rejected, with the Court deeming the erroneous call a “field-of-play” decision.

Mental gymnastics like these are the direct result of the confusion spurred by the Court of Arbitration’s lackluster decision making, paling in comparison to what is likely going on in the minds of the three athletes involved.

When the Olympics prioritizes formal bureaucratic processes over what is just, the institution fails in its mission “to encourage and support the promotion of ethics and good governance in sport.”

To penalize athletes for a mistake on the part of the judging panel – and in the process, disqualify Maneca-Voinea altogether and Chiles twice, as well as toy with Barbosu’s emotions – is incomprehensible and utterly irrational.

The CAS not only failed Chiles – who rightfully deserved to walk away with bronze – but also both Romanian gymnasts in the dispute over the podium.

Nevertheless, it is all in the past now, and it is up to CAS to right its own wrongs. And it need not look further than Barbosu’s own reaction for the most fair course of action.

“I want to believe that the day will come when all three of us will receive a bronze medal each,” Barbosu said.

The CAS must award bronze medals to both Chiles and Maneca-Voinea in addition to Barbosu. To do so would restore faith in the Olympic spirit that each athlete has trained so tirelessly to both embody and embrace.

Every athlete knows winning or losing can come down to the narrowest margins – there is no debating this. But competitors can only reconcile the reality of a win or loss when they know, with certainty, that they either were defeated or defeated their opponent.

The CAS robbed all three athletes of any sense of closure and stripped them of any remaining autonomy they held over the ultimate result of their efforts.

Chiles knows that her routine was sufficient to medal, and Team USA’s timely scoring appeal proves this.

Barbosu knows, deep down, that receiving a medal did not come down to the execution of her routine but rather a decision based on an ambiguous, back-and-forth dispute.

And Maneca-Voinea, with regard to the precedent set by each development and arbitrary decision long after the event’s conclusion, is entitled to the bronze in her own right.

Not only as Bruins, but also as fans of competitive athletics, the members of the editorial board hope to see both Chiles and Maneca-Voinea join Barbosu as Olympic bronze medal-bearers for their brilliant performances in the women’s gymnastics floor exercise final.