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(ABC – Australia) U.S. Olympic Committee officials are appealing a court ruling that resulted in the Jordan Chiles asked to return bronze medal she won During the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that an on-the-spot appeal by Chiles’ coach, which awarded Chiles third place, was invalid on the grounds that it exceeded the one-minute score review time limit by four seconds.
USA Gymnastics disputed that timing, saying in a statement on Monday that it had submitted video evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport showing coach Cecil Landy filed his first appeal 13 seconds before the deadline.
Time-stamped video evidence submitted by USA Gymnastics on Sunday night shows Randy first making the request for an investigation at the investigation desk 47 seconds after the score was released, and then again 55 seconds after the score was released.
Disputes over those details could spark months or even years of legal battles over gymnastics performance.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said last weekend it would respect the court’s ruling, promoting Romania’s Ana Barbosu to third place. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed the ruling and announced it would redistribute medals.
A statement from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said: “We firmly believe that Jordan deserved the bronze medal and that both the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG)’s initial scoring and the subsequent Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) appeal process contained serious errors that need to be addressed.”
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that U.S. coach Randy’s request to add 0.1 points to Chiles’ score was outside the one-minute time frame. The ad hoc committee of the Court of Arbitration for Sport wrote that Randy’s request was made 1 minute and 4 seconds after Chiles’ initial score was announced.
The IOC said in a statement it would be in touch with the U.S. Olympic Committee about returning Chile’s bronze medal and would discuss with the Romanian Olympic Committee a redistribution ceremony in Babosu’s memory.
“The initial error occurred during the International Gymnastics Federation’s scoring process, and the second error occurred during the appeal process at the Court of Arbitration for Sport when the USOC was not given sufficient time or notice to effectively challenge the ruling,” the USOC said in a statement released Sunday.
It is not clear where the appeal will go first. The USOC could appeal to two places: the Swiss Tribunal, Switzerland’s highest court, and the European Court of Human Rights.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport wrote on Saturday that the original ranking order should be restored, with Babosu third, Romania’s Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chile fifth. It added that the International Gymnastics Federation should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the above decision,” but it would be up to the federation to decide who would receive medals after gold medalist Rebecca Andrade of Brazil and silver medalist Simone Biles of the United States.
The International Gymnastics Federation said it was up to the International Olympic Committee to decide whether to redistribute the medals. The IOC confirmed on Sunday that it would respect the International Gymnastics Federation’s decision and seek the return of Chile’s medals.
The rapid development of events made an already difficult few days for the three athletes even more difficult.
Romanian gymnastics legend and 1976 Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci was concerned about Babosu’s mental health following her harrowing fall from bronze medalist to fourth place in the competition.
Comaneci posted on X earlier this week: “I can’t believe we treat the mental health and emotions of our athletes this way… Let’s protect them.”
Chiles hinted at the decision in an Instagram story on Saturday, saying she was heartbroken and “for the sake of my mental health, I have decided to temporarily step away from social media, thank you.”
Team-mates from the United States showed their support to Chiles, a two-time Olympian.
American star Biles posted on Instagram: “Jordan, I send you so much love. Cheer up ‘Olympic champion’, we love you.”
In the floor exercise final, Babosu and Maneca Voinea both scored the same 13.700 points but failed to win a medal. Babosu thought she had won the bronze medal by beating Maneca Voinea in the tiebreaker (i.e. with a higher score) and began to celebrate with the Romanian flag.
Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially scored 13.666 points, which placed her fifth behind Maneca Voinea. Randy called for an investigation into Chiles’ score.
“At that point, we had nothing to lose, so I thought, ‘We’ll just have to give it a try,'” Randy said after the ceremony. “To be honest, I didn’t expect this to happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and I was like, ‘What?'”
The judge ruled in favor of the appeal, giving Chiles the win over Babosu and Maneca-Voiñea.
After returning to Romania, Babosu made a point of stressing that there were no problems between her and Chiles.
“I just want fairness for everyone, we don’t want to start picking on other athletes of any nationality,” Babosu told reporters. “As athletes we don’t deserve to be treated like this, we just want to do our best and be rewarded according to our performance. The problem is with the referees, with their calculations and decisions.”
Chiles’ mother, Gina Chiles, called out the critics in a post, writing that she was “tired of” the derogatory comments directed at Jordan.
Gina Chiles posted: “My daughter is an award-winning Olympian with a huge heart and unmatched sportsmanship. Yet she has been abused with disgusting language.”
When Brazilian star Andrade won her fourth medal in Paris, Chiles and Biles knelt to pay tribute to her, the beautiful moment on the podium was shrouded in a layer of uncertainty.
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