U.S. fights to keep Jordan Chiles’ medal, submitting video evidence to support appeal
PARIS — USA Gymnastics is not letting Jordan Chiles give up her bronze medal without a fight.
Hours after the International Olympic Committee ruled that the U.S. gymnast should return her medal because of a score change, USA Gymnastics will now submit a new appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport arguing that everything was done correctly the first time.
According to a statement released by USAG on Sunday night, the federation will submit video evidence that shows U.S. head coach Cecile Landi filed an inquiry 47 seconds after Chiles’ score was published, which is within the one-minute time window. The Romanian Gymnastics Federation initially got the inquiry voided with an appeal to the CAS claiming that the inquiry was filed one minute and four seconds after the score was posted.
In a statement, USA Gymnastics said its time-stamped video was not available prior to the first decision.
The competition took place last Monday and the CAS upheld the Romanian petition Saturday, voiding the inquiry that gave Chiles an additional one-tenth in difficulty value that pushed her from fifth to third place. The International Gymnastics Federation re-ranked the gymnasts after the decision, putting Romania’s Ana Barbosu into bronze medal position with a 13.700, but left it up to the IOC to reallocate the medals. The organization got in touch with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to facilitate a return of Chiles’ medal.
Since winning her third Olympic medal — her first individual Olympic medal — on Monday, Chiles has returned to the United States, where her post-Games media tour included a stop at the Nasdaq composite, on the “Today” show to announce her return to UCLA, and a conversation with Elmo.
Chiles was the last gymnast to compete in the floor exercise final, and her coaches had one minute to inquire about her score after it was posted. The inquiry submitted on behalf of Chiles added one-tenth to her score, moving her into third place with a 13.766, after judges decided she should have gotten full credit on a leap that involved a 540-degree turn in the air.
“All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?? Completely unacceptable,” U.S. teammate Suni Lee posted on an Instagram story. “This is awful and I’m gutted for Jordan. I got your back forever Jo. U have all my flowers and you will ALWAYS be an Olympic champion.”
Chiles helped the United States to team gold in Paris and competed all-around in the team final. She also has a silver medal in the team competition from Tokyo.
“Sending you so much love Jordan,” Simone Biles posted in an Instagram story with a photo of her hugging Chiles after the floor competition. “Keep your chin up Olympic champ! We love you!”