USA Gymnastics officials say an arbitration panel won’t reconsider a decision asking gymnast Jordan Chiles to return the bronze medal she won at the Paris Olympics.
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| Jordan Chiles shows her medals before having to hand back the bronze, after ringing the closing bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York. Photograph: Richard Drew/AP |
Last week, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) voided an on-floor appeal from Chiles’s coach that was initially upheld and moved her from fifth to third in the floor exercise in Paris. Cas’s decision came after the Romanian Olympic Committee said the appeal came four seconds beyond the one-minute time limit for scoring inquiries. As a result, the International Gymnastics Federation (Fig) said Romania’s Ana Barbosu had been promoted to third and Chiles dropped back to fifth. The IOC said that Chiles had to return her medal as a result.
On Sunday, USA Gymnastics disputed the timing, saying that the agency submitted video evidence to Cas that showed Team USA coach Cecile Landi first appealed 13 seconds before the deadline. That appeal has now been dismissed.
USA Gymnastics says it will continue efforts to let Chiles keep the medal.
“USA Gymnastics was notified [by Cas] on Monday that their rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement. “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 dispute over such minute details sets up what could be a months- or years-long legal battle over the gymnastics scores.
The IOC said it will be in touch with the USOPC regarding the return of Chiles’ bronze and will work with the Romanian Olympic Committee to discuss a reallocation ceremony honoring Barbosu. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil won gold and Simone Biles of the US was the silver medalist. The Romanian team had asked that the bronze medals be shared, allowing Chiles to keep her bronze.
Any appeal could go to Switzerland’s highest court, the Swiss Tribunal, or the European Court of Human Rights.
Late on Monday, rapper Flavor Flav – who has been a prominent celebrity supporter of 2024 Olympians – posted on X that he had made a bedazzled bronze medal for Chiles as a potential replacement while the US fights “the Powers that be.”
“Thank you. Means the world,” Chiles’s mother, Gina, wrote on X. “She’s not on socials right now as you can imagine. I’ll share it with her.”
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