The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is planning to file an appeal for gymnast Jordan Chiles, who is being told to give back her bronze medal due to an error from the judges. Chiles was first awarded the bronze when Team USA coach Cecile Landi made a successful appeal during the floor final. The judges adjusted Chiles’ initial score after the coach’s appeal and propelled the American gymnast to third place, the Associated Press reported.
However, The Court of Arbitration for Sport has now avoided Landi’s appeal. According to the CAS, the coach’s inquiry came came 4 seconds after the 1-minute time limit to ask for review. The International Olympic Committee agreed with the CAS and reallocated the bronze to Romanian Ana Barbosu, who initially finished fourth during Monday’s floor final.
According to the AP, the USOPC can now take its appeal to the Swiss Tribunal, Switzerland’s highest court. The other option is to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
“We firmly believe that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the subsequent CAS appeal process that need to be addressed,” the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee stated, per the AP. “The initial error occurred in the scoring by FIG, and the second error was during the CAS appeal process, where the USOPC was not given adequate time or notice to effectively challenge the decision.”
The IOC also released a statement, saying it will meet with the USOPC to discuss the appeal. Additionally, the IOC will meet with the Romanian Olympic Committee to talk about a reallocation ceremony for Barbosu.
The CAS stated that initial final ranking should be restored, with Barbosu in third-place, Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea in fourth and Chiles fifth. While FIG should decide the final ranking “in accordance with the above decision,” it’s up to the federation to decide who would gets bronze the medal, CAS said in its statement, per the AP.
The FIG added that the IOC made the final call on reallocating the medal. The IOC then confirmed that it agrees with FIG’s decision and Chiles must return her medal.
In a later statement, USA Gymnastics said in a statement of its own that it has video evidence that proves Chiles deserves to keep her medal.
“USA Gymnastics on Sunday formally submitted a letter and video evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, conclusively establishing that Head Coach Cecile Landi’s request to file an inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after the publishing of the score, within the 1-minute deadline required by FIG rule,” they said, as People reported, adding that the “ruling be revised and Chiles’ bronze-medal score of 13.766 reinstated.”
They also state that they have submitted “time-stamped, video evidence” that “shows Landi first stated her request to file an inquiry at the inquiry table 47 seconds after the score is posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the score was originally posted.”
The statement continued, “The basis for the CAS ruling on Friday striking down the inquiry was that ‘The inquiry submitted on behalf of Ms. Jordan Chiles in the Final of the women’s floor exercise was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline provided by article 8.5 of the 2024 FIG Technical Regulations and is determined to be without effect. “The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the tribunal’s decision and thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it.”
The material will now be reviewed by the CAS.
After she learned of the ruling, Chiles took to her social media to write, “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”
People have been furious over the decision to strip Chiles, who also won gold with the rest of Team USA in the team all-around, of her bronze floor rotuine medal.
This is what broke them. Three Black women champions basking in joy & sisterhood was too much. Jordan Chiles will always be an Olympic gold medalist to me. I hope she's surrounded with love right now. pic.twitter.com/jRfLcytV3Q
— Dr. Tracy (@tracyrenee70) August 10, 2024
all of the United States protecting Jordan Chiles’ medal today pic.twitter.com/ZG8l87Gkye
— whitney medworth (@its_whitney) August 11, 2024
This happened, and it will never disappear.
Jordan Chiles will always be the *rightful* bronze medalist for the Summer 2024 women's floor finals. pic.twitter.com/kum9ZEDLb0
— ira. (@ilikesiestas) August 10, 2024
Jordan Chiles’ sister, Jazmin, called out racism on social media.
Jazmin wrote in part (as People reported), “Racism is real, it exists, it is alive and well. They have officially, 5 days later, stripped her of one her medals. Not because she didn’t win, not because she was drugged, not because she stepped out of bounds, not because she wasn’t good enough.”
She continued, “in the HISTORY of the Olympics NO ONE has ever been stripped of their medal for this. Also, there are only TWO ways you can be stripped of a medal. Cheating or Doping. She did neither.”
She later clarified some of her initial statements, saying that she racism she was talking about was “BEHIND the comments and vulgar and vile comments that are being made toward my sister,” and not that the other competitors were racist.
“Just give the other girls a bronze and leave it at that! Period,” she said.
Simone Biles and Suni Lee also chimed in.
“Sending you so much love Jordan,” Biles wrote on her Instagram Story. “Keep your chin up ‘Olympic champ’ we love you.”
Lee wrote on her Instagram Story, “All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges? Completely unacceptable, this is awful and I’m gutted for jordan.”
