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Jordan Chiles won’t have bronze medal restored after Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling

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Jordan Chiles won’t have bronze medal restored after Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling

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USA Gymnastics said Monday that its appeal to restore gymnast Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal in the floor exercise has been turned down.

The federation said in a statement to social media that it was informed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that rules “do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented.”

“We are deeply disappointed by the notification and 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,” USA Gymnastics said.

The news comes a little more than a week after the actual floor exercise competition itself, where a late inquiry by Chiles’ coaches first triggered the saga that has played out in the days since.

How the Jordan Chiles controversy began

In the last routine of the floor exercise final, Chiles garnered a score of 13.666, which included a deduction of one tenth of a point for an improper split leap, known as a tour jete full. That score put her fifth, behind both Ana Barbosu and another Romanian gymnast, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea. They both had scores of 13.700. 

But then, in a move she later acknowledged was a bit of a Hail Mary, Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, formally appealed that specific deduction – and the judges agreed. Chiles’ score was thereby increased to 13.766, which moved her into third place ahead of the two Romanians, one of whom had already climbed onto the podium with a flag to celebrate. 

The Romanian Gymnastics Federation felt the last-minute reversal was unfair, so they took the matter to CAS, claiming that Landi had submitted the scoring appeal – officially known as an inquiry – four seconds past the allotted one minute in which she was permitted to do so. The Romanian federation did not specify how it knew that Landi was four seconds late and it has not replied to a request for comment. (It also filed a separate appeal on behalf of Maneca-Voinea, saying she shouldn’t have been penalized for stepping out of bounds.)

It wasn’t until Saturday that CAS issued its ruling – a decision that triggered a trickle-down effect through various acronymic Olympic organizations and, eventually, led the International Olympic Committee to announce that Barbosu would get a bronze medal and Chiles would be stripped of hers. 

Controversy overshadows gymnasts’ brilliance

The reallocation of Olympic medals had, to this point, largely been confined to athletes whose finishes were impacted by doping.

Then, on Sunday, USA Gymnastics announced that it had found new video footage that essentially disproved the Romanian Gymnastics Federation’s timeline. The U.S. said it submitted the video to CAS for review as part of its appeal of the Swiss-based court’s ruling. 

Caught in the middle of all of this, of course, are the athletes – namely Chiles and Barbosu. 

Barbosu, 18, was distraught when the standings were adjusted right after the competition and dropped her Romanian flag on the ground in disbelief. Chiles, meanwhile, was thrilled to win what was her first individual medal – though she likely experienced some of the same frustrations as Barbosu when the IOC said Sunday that it would be asking for the return of the 23-year-old’s bronze medal.

The Romanian Gymnastics Federation, in fact, had requested that CAS decide that Barbosu, Chiles and Maneca-Voinea all receive bronze medals. Instead, it punted that decision to the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), which has since said all medal decisions are made by the IOC. The IOC then said the medal allocation is dependent upon the order of finish and referred a reporter’s questions to the FIG.

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