USA Gymnastics has submitted an appeal against the International Olympic Committee’s decision that gymnast Jordan Chiles must return her Paris Olympics bronze medal in floor exercise.
The drama began last week when Chiles’ coach requested that judges review the gymnast’s difficulty score after her floor routine. Though Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu was positioned to take bronze in the Aug. 6 event, the review boosted Chiles’ 13.666 score to a 13.766 and pushed her into third place, bumping Bărbosu off the podium.
Bărbosu, who scored 13.700 with her routine, placed fourth behind Chiles. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade earned gold while fan favourite Simone Biles took silver.
Then on Saturday, the Tribunal Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reversed the decision following an appeal from the Romanian team. CAS said the initial score review request from Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, came four seconds after the sport’s one-minute review window elapsed.
Chiles’ score was knocked back to a 13.666 and she was told by the IOC to return her bronze hardware.
Currently, Chiles has been moved back to fifth place, behind Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who also earned a 13.700 score. (Bărbosu placed ahead of Maneca-Voinea because of a higher execution score.)
On Sunday, USA Gymnastics said it had submitted an additional appeal to CAS that includes video evidence of Landi submitting the appeal for Chiles within 47 seconds of her score being posted.
USA Gymnastics is calling for CAS to revise its ruling and reinstate Chiles’ bronze-medal score of 13.766.
The organization did not share the video footage but said it was previously unavailable to USA Gymnastics officials.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Sunday said it will uphold the CAS decision and work with the American and Romanian Olympic committees to discuss a medal reallocation ceremony honouring Bărbosu.
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Over the weekend, Chiles announced she would be taking a break from social media “for my mental health.”
In their initial statement about the CAS ruling on demoting Chiles’ score, USA Gymnastics, alongside the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, condemned the “consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks” Chiles has faced on social media.
“No athlete should be subject to such treatment,” the organizations wrote. “We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her.”
On Sunday, Bărbosu wrote on Instagram that she could relate to the feelings of Chiles and Maneca-Voinea.
“Sabrina, Jordan, my thoughts are with you,” she started. “I know what you are feeling, because I’ve been through the same. But I know you’ll come back stronger.”
During the Paris Olympic gymnastics meet, Bărbosu was seen celebrating her third-place floor victory with a Romanian flag before the appeal from Chiles’ coach.
“I hope from deep of my heart that at the next Olympics, all three of us will share the same podium. That is my true dream!” she wrote. “This situation would not have existed if the persons in charge had respected the regulation. We, athletes are not to be blamed, and the hate directed to us is painful.”
Several of Chiles’ teammates have wished her well on social media.
On Instagram, Biles told Chiles, “Keep your chin up ‘Olympic champ’ we love you.”
It is not common for athletes to have to return their medals for reasons outside of cheating.
Most often, medals are reallocated after doping violations. In Paris this year, the American Beijing Winter Olympics figure skating team accepted belated gold medals after Russia’s Kamila Valieva failed a doping test for her 2022 performance.
The dispute over Chiles’ floor score is likely to lead to a legal battle that could take months, or years, to conclude.
The International Gymnastics Federation said it would uphold the CAS decision to bump Bărbosu back into third place.