USA Gymnastics will appeal to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected their request Monday to reconsider the case of Jordan Chiles’ Olympic bronze medal.
Chiles won the bronze in women’s floor exercise at the Paris Olympics when her coach submitted an inquiry to challenge the judges’ initial score and her score was corrected from 13.666 to 13.766. Chiles moved into third place, passing Romanians Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.
Romania took their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), saying that the United States’ inquiry was not made within the one-minute window stated in the rules. Romania argued that the Americans missed that time limit by four seconds.
The CAS on Saturday ruled in favor of Romania and ordered Chiles’ bronze medal to be reallocated to Barbosu, who was tied at 13.7 with her countrywoman but had a higher execution score.
However, the U.S. now says it has video evidence that coach Cecile Landi made the appeal 47 seconds after Chiles’ initial score was posted, well within the time limit. That wasn’t enough for the CAS to reassess.
“USA Gymnastics was notified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday that their rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented,” the governing body 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 Romanians had also argued that the International Olympic Committee award bronze medals to all three gymnasts. The CAS rejected that part of the request.
USA Gymnastics said in a previous statement Saturday that Chiles had been “subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media.”
Chiles on Saturday posted on her Instagram stories a series of broken hearts on a black background, followed by this statement: “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”
–Field Level Media
