USA Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles returned her bronze medal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that gymnast she should be stripped of placing third. Chiles won third in the women’s floor final in gymnastics after the USA gymnastics team appealed her score.
Related: Simone Biles Is the Shortest Gymnast on Team USA—Here’s How She Compares to Her Teammates
The star gymnast posed on the podium with gold medalist Rebeca Andrade and silver medalist Simone Biles. Chiles initally placed fourth with a score of 13.666 at the Olympics behind Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu. Her coaches challenged the difficulty score which added 0.1 to her overall score to 13.766 after they asked submitted an inquiry into her score, boosting her from fourth to third place.
Why did Jordan Chiles lose her medal?
The Romanian team appealed against Chiles’ appeal. They argued that Coach Landi’s inquiry happened 1 minute and 4 seconds after the score was called (the deadline to appeal is one minute after). The Court of Arbitration for Sport and the International Gymnastics Federation reversed Chiles’ appeal.
The USA Gymnastics team issued a statement saying that they have video evidence that Landi didn’t appeal past the deadline. “USA Gymnastics on Sunday formally submitted a letter and video evidence to the Court of Abitration for Sport, conclusively establishing that Head Coach Cecile Landi’s request to file an inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after the publishing of the score, within the 1-minute deadline required by FIG rule.”
“The time-stamped, video evidence submitted by USA Gymnastics Sunday evening shows Landi first stated her request to file an inquiry at the inquiry table 47 seconds after the score is posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the score was originally posted,” USA Gymnastics said. “The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the tribunal’s decision and thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it.”
How did Jordan Chiles’ teammates react to her losing the bronze medal?
Simone Biles went on Instagram to support her teammate. She wrote in a story, “Sending you so much love Jordan. Keep your chin up olympic champ! We love you.” Suni Lee condemned the decision writing on an Instagram story, “All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?? Completely unacceptable. This is awful and I’m gutted for Jordan.”
Chiles wrote on Instagram that she’s taking a break from social media in wake of the news. “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health thank you,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ana Bărbosu issued a statement about the controversy on her Instagram story. ” “Jordan, my thoughts are with you. I know what you are feeling, because I’ve been through the same. But I know you’ll come back stronger. I hope from deep of my heart that at the next Olympics, all three of us will share the same podium… 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.”
