USA Gymnastics May Have Saved Jordan Chiles’ Bronze Medal

After the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it was stripping US gymnast Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal.

Now, that looks like it may not be the case.

USA Gymnastics has submitted video evidence to the CAS showing that the appeal increasing Chiles’ score from 13.666 to 13.766 was submitted before the one-minute deadline despite a ruling that it was submitted four seconds late.

USA Gymnastics announced the submission in a statement on its X account, reading:

“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.”

“In this letter, USA Gymnastics requests that the CAS ruling be revised and Chiles’ bronze-medal score of 13.766 be reinstated.”

“The time-stamped, video evidence submitted by USA Gymnastics Sunday evening 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 video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the tribunals’s decision and thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it.”

The CAS and IOC have yet to announce a decision regarding USA Gymnastics’ appeal.

Originally, Chiles had been bumped up to third place because head coach Cecile Landi submitted a challenge to increase the difficulty score of Chiles’ Floor Exercise routine.

However, after an appeal from the Romanian Gymnastics Federation to the CAS, Chiles’ score increase was reversed because they claimed the appeal was submitted four seconds too late. This put Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu back in third and eventually led to Chiles losing the bronze.

“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 CAS said.

According to the International Gymnastics Federation, a coach can submit an inquiry about a score at any point until the next gymnast starts their routine. The only exception is if you’re the final gymnast when you only get one minute. Chiles was the final gymnast performing, prompting the controversy.

This has been difficult for everyone involved, particularly Chiles who has taken a break from social media due to emotional stress and “baseless and extremely hurtful attacks,” according to USA Gymnastics. Hopefully, everything will be rectified soon.

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