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USA Gymnastics denied in appeal to keep Olympic bronze medal for Jordan Chiles

jason owens
Staff writer
·3-min read

USA Gymnastics was denied in its appeal to retain the Olympic bronze medal awarded to Jordan Chiles in the floor routine final at the Paris Games, the group announced Monday.

USAG announced the decision on Monday, a day after filing an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"USA Gymnastics was notified by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) on Monday that their rules do not allow for an arbital award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented," a USAG statement reads.

USAG vowed to continue to fight to retain Chiles' bronze medal.

"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 scoring, placement and medal award for Jordan," the statement continues.

Chiles initially finished fifth in the floor routine final, but was awarded the bronze medal via a score adjustment after her coach Cecile Landi filed an appeal to the judgment of her routine. Upon review, judges determined that Chiles wasn't awarded full credit for a skill.

Her score of 13.666 was changed to a 13.766, which moved her ahead of Romanian gymnasts Ana Bărbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who initially finished the event in a third-place tie with scores of 13.700. Prior to Landi's appeal, Bărbosu was declared the bronze-medal winner over her teammate because of a tiebreaker.

Jordan Chiles has been ordered to return her bronze medal from the floor routine at the Paris Olympics. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Jordan Chiles has been ordered to return her bronze medal from the floor routine at the Paris Olympics. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

The International Olympic Committee determined on Sunday that Chiles is not the rightful medal winner following a successful appeal by the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee to the CAS, one of two that it filed in response to the floor routine judgment controversy. The CAS didn't dispute that the adjustment to Chiles' score was correct. It instead determined that Landi filed her appeal of Chiles' score four seconds after a one-minute time limit to do so.

USAG argued in its appeal filed Sunday that it had video evidence showing that Landi submitted the request before the conclusion of the one-minute deadline. The evidence it provided didn't compel the CAS to change its decision.

Bărbosu learned of the initial adjusted result as she celebrated with the Romanian flag what she thought was a bronze medal routine. She left the gym in tears in an emotional scene after seeing that medal instead awarded to Chiles.

The Olympic medal would have been the first since 2012 for Romania, a former gymnastics powerhouse that produced Olympic icon and five-time gold medalist Nadia Comaneci. Per CAS, the bronze medal should now be returned and awarded to Bărbosu.

Romania's second appeal was in regard to the judgment of Maneca-Voinea's routine.

The ROSC argued that Maneca-Voinea was penalized 0.1 points for stepping out of bounds on her routine when she did not step out. Comaneci tweeted video of the moment in question showing that Maneca-Voinea did not step out of bounds.

An extra 0.1 points would have raised Maneca-Voinea's score to 14.800, which would be higher than either Bărbosu's 14.700 or Chiles' previously adjusted scored of 14.766. The RSOC argued that it filed an initial appeal of Maneca-Voinea's score "within the deadline set by the regulation." The CAS dismissed the appeal of Maneca-Voinea's score without explanation.

The RSOC has since requested that three bronze medals be awarded, with Chiles allowed to keep hers.