USA Gymnastics’ attempt to retain Jordan Chiles’ Olympic bronze medal in the floor routine at the Paris Games has been denied, the organization announced Monday.
The decision came a day after USA Gymnastics filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
“On Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) informed USA Gymnastics that its rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered, even when new conclusive evidence is presented,” the USAG statement read.
Despite the setback, USA Gymnastics pledged to continue fighting to keep Chiles’ bronze medal.
“We are deeply disappointed by this decision and will explore every possible avenue, including an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, to ensure fair scoring, placement, and the rightful award of the medal to Jordan,” the statement continued.
I don’t see the heel touching down.. do you? #sabrinavoinea pic.twitter.com/KZzmj5kcoD
— Nadia Comaneci (@nadiacomaneci10) August 6, 2024
Chiles originally placed fifth in the floor routine final but was awarded the bronze medal after her coach, Cecile Landi, successfully appealed her score. The judges determined that Chiles had not received full credit for a skill, leading to her score being revised from 13.666 to 13.766, which moved her ahead of Romanian gymnasts Ana Bărbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who both had scores of 13.700. Bărbosu was initially awarded the bronze due to a tiebreaker.
However, following a successful appeal by the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee to the CAS, the International Olympic Committee ruled on Sunday that Chiles was not the rightful medalist. The CAS acknowledged that the score adjustment was correct but determined that Landi had submitted the appeal four seconds after the one-minute deadline.
USAG argued in its appeal that video evidence showed Landi filed the appeal within the one-minute deadline, but this evidence was insufficient to change the CAS’s decision.
Bărbosu, who had been celebrating her bronze medal win with the Romanian flag before learning of the score change, is now set to receive the medal after the CAS ruling. This would be Romania’s first Olympic gymnastics medal since 2012.
The CAS also dismissed a separate appeal regarding Maneca-Voinea’s score, which claimed she was incorrectly penalized for stepping out of bounds. Had this penalty been reversed, Maneca-Voinea’s score would have surpassed both Chiles and Bărbosu. The CAS did not provide an explanation for dismissing this appeal.