Jordan Chiles' Olympic Medal Controversy Takes Another Turn

USA Gymnastics says CAS has decided not to reconsider its decision
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 12, 2024 1:00 AM CDT
Updated Aug 13, 2024 12:00 AM CDT
Jordan Chiles' Olympic Medal Controversy Takes a Turn
Jordan Chiles holds up her medals after the women's artistic gymnastics individual apparatus finals Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Paris, France.   (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
UPDATE Aug 13, 2024 12:00 AM CDT

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has declined to restore the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics' women's gymnastics floor exercise event to Jordan Chiles following an appeal by USA Gymnastics. CAS rules "do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented," USA Gymnastics says in a statement cited by USA Today. The organization says it "will continue to pursue every possible avenue and appeal process, including to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, to ensure the just score, placement and medal award for Jordan." It's not clear how long the arbitration process could take, or whether the medal has yet changed hands, CNN reports.

Aug 12, 2024 1:00 AM CDT

The rollercoaster ride of Jordan Chiles and the Paris Olympics' women's gymnastics floor exercise final continues: After Chiles was stripped of her bronze medal in the event after Romania successfully argued that the US gymnast's coach had filed an appeal to the judges regarding Chiles' score four seconds too late, the United States is now appealing that decision. USA Gymnastics says it has video evidence that Chiles' coach filed her inquiry into Chiles' score—which had to do with the gymnast's difficulty ranking, and resulted in her score being pushed up, boosting her into the third-place spot—well within the one-minute window coaches have to file such inquiries, USA Today reports.

"The time-stamped, video evidence submitted by USA Gymnastics Sunday evening shows [coach Cecile] 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," USA Gymnastics says in a statement. "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." It's not clear where the video is from, nor is it clear how the inquiry was originally determined to have been submitted four seconds late.

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Meanwhile, Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, the current bronze medalist if the decision on Chiles is not reversed, has also weighed in, People reports. "I know what you are feeling, because I've been through the same. But I know you'll come back stronger," she wrote on social media, addressing not just Chiles but another Romanian gymnast, who moved to fifth and fourth places when the medal decision was made. "I hope from deep of my heart that at the next Olympics, all three of us will share [the] same podium. This is my true dream!" (More 2024 Paris Olympics stories.)

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