Jordan Chiles must return her Olympic bronze medal
The International Court of Arbitration for Sport had previously ruled that the jury had made an error in accepting a request submitted by Chile’s coaches.
PARIS — There has been another major twist in the Olympic gymnastics drama surrounding Jordan Chile’s bronze medal.
USA Gymnastics announced Sunday that it has new video evidence showing that coach Cecile Landi made the inquiry about Chiles’ floor exercise score before the one-minute time limit expired – 47 seconds after her score was announced, to be exact.
The governing body said in a statement that it had submitted the video and a formal letter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport requesting the restoration of Chile’s score of 13.766 and allowing her to keep her bronze medal from the women’s floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“The time-stamped video evidence provided by USA Gymnastics on Sunday evening shows that Landi first expressed her request to file an investigation at the investigation table 47 seconds after the result was released, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the result was initially released,” USA Gymnastics said in its statement.
“The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the Tribunal’s decision and therefore USAG had no opportunity to submit it beforehand.”
A USA Gymnastics spokesperson said that due to confidentiality rules surrounding CAS appeals, no further information about the video, including its source, could be provided.
A CAS spokesman did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. And the International Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to an email asking whether the existence of such a video would change its decision to strip Chile of the medal, regardless of whether CAS reconsiders its decision.
The new video marks the latest twist in the saga surrounding the women’s floor exercise final at the Bercy Arena earlier this week, which saw Chiles overtake Romania’s Ana Barbosu at the end of the competition after she appealed her score.
Chiles had originally received a score of 13.666 before her coaches made a request to the jury, arguing that she should not have received a deduction of one-tenth of her difficulty score for her Tour Jete Full, a split jump. The judges agreed and increased Chiles’ score to 13.766, giving her Olympic bronze and shocking Barbosu – whose score was 13.700.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation later appealed to CAS, claiming that Landi had requested the investigation of Chile’s score exactly four seconds after the minute allotted for such investigations. CAS agreed, citing that fact as the basis for its ruling on Saturday, which downgraded her score again to 13.666.
The CAS decision triggered a series of procedural domino effects that ultimately led the IOC to announce that it would strip Chile of its bronze medal and award it to Barbosu.
So it all depends on the schedule – a difference of 17 seconds could decide whether Chiles gets to keep her first individual Olympic medal.
The CAS decision did not explain how the Romanian Gymnastics Federation came to the conclusion that the investigation was carried out four seconds too late. The federation itself did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
According to the technical competition rules enforced by the International Gymnastics Federation, a gymnast’s coach can submit an inquiry about a result at any time up until the next gymnast begins their routine. But for the last athlete in a group or rotation, like Chiles in Monday’s floor final, a different rule applies and the coach has just one minute “after the result is shown on the scoreboard.”
“The person responsible for receiving the oral request must document the time of receipt in writing or electronically, which will initiate the procedure,” states the FIG Technical Regulations.
Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on social media @Tom_Schad.
