Jordan Chiles ordered to return Olympic bronze medal, U.S. says arbitration court won't reconsider decision
American gymnast Jordan Chiles has been stripped of her bronze medal on floor exercise and must return the hardware after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided the inquiry that led her to jump from fifth place to third.
On Saturday, CAS ruled that the appeal by U.S. coach Cecile Landi to have .1 added to Chiles' score that vaulted the 23-year-old into third place came outside the 1-minute window allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). In its decision, CAS wrote that the initial finishing order should be restored, meaning that Romania's Ana Barbosu would replace Chiles as the bronze medalist. Her teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea would be fourth and Chiles fifth.
Late Saturday night, FIG said it would respect the court's decision and elevate Barosu to third.
U.S. Olympic officials said over the weekend they would appeal the court ruling, but on Monday they said CAS informed them it would not reconsider the decision.
"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," 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."
On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee ordered Chiles to return the bronze medal, saying it was reallocating it to Barbosu.
"We firmly believe that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the subsequent CAS appeal process that need to be addressed," the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) statement said.
The IOC said in a statement 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.
"The initial error occurred in the scoring by FIG, and the second error was during the CAS appeal process, where the USOPC was not given adequate time or notice to effectively challenge the decision," said the USOPC statement, which was released Sunday.
In a separate statement later on Sunday, USA Gymnastics said it formally submitted a letter and video evidence to CAS that purportedly shows that Landi's inquiry request was submitted 47 seconds after Chiles' score was published, "within the 1-minute deadline required by FIG rule."
USA Gymnastics said the "time-stamped" video was not available to them prior to the tribunal's decision and "thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it."
The rapid turn of events adds another layer to what has been a difficult few days for all three athletes.
Chiles hinted at the decision in an Instagram story on Saturday, indicating she is heartbroken and is "taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you."
Jazmin Chiles, Jordan's sister, said on Instagram that Chiles was stripped of a medal "not because she wasn't good enough. But because the judges failed to give her difficulty and forced an inquiry to be made."
U.S. teammates offered support to Chiles, a two-time Olympian.
"Sending you so much love Jordan," American star Simone Biles posted on Instagram. "Keep your chin up 'Olympic champ' we love you."
Biles won the silver medal at the floor final while Brazilian Rebeca Andrade took gold.
"All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?" six-time Olympic medalist Sunisa Lee added on Instagram. "Completely unacceptable, this is awful and I'm gutted for jordan."
USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Saturday it is "devastated" by the ruling.
"The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles' floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring," the organization wrote.
Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left outside the medals in Monday's floor final after finishing with matching scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze over Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker — a higher execution score — and began celebrating with a Romanian flag.
Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially was given a score of 13.666 which put her in fifth place, right behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi called for an inquiry on her score, and after a review, judges boosted Chiles' total by 0.1. That was enough to leapfrog Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea for the last spot on the podium.
"It was a surreal moment … I saw the score change and I was just like 'What is going on? Is this real? Is this happening?' I was just, again, in that moment just very happy and obviously happy for the other athletes as well," Chiles told "CBS Mornings" on Friday about how everything went down.
Chiles also won a gold medal in the women's team final, completing their "redemption tour" after the team won silver in Tokyo. But this isn't the end of her gymnastics career. She plans to return to UCLA and compete for the Bruins.