At the Paris 2024 Olympics, United States gymnast Jordan Chiles was stripped of her first individual bronze Olympic medal upon demands from the Romanian gymnastics team. This event has officially been deemed as the sport’s highest-profile controversy since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, where the vault’s height was lower than it should have been, causing multiple gymnasts to fall over.
On Aug. 5, Chiles executed her women’s floor exercise and was awarded a score of 13.666, putting her in fifth place. However, her coach, Cecile Landi, appealed a deduction that was made in her difficulty score. Granted, the judges increased her score by 0.1, giving her 13.766 and placing her on the podium.
As a result of Chiles’ increased score, Romania’s Ana Barbosu was knocked off the podium, causing the Romanian Gymnastics Federation to file a case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to question the validity of Landi’s appeal.
The International Gymnastics Federation regulations permit a coach to challenge a difficulty score within one minute after the score is shown. The Romanian gymnastics team argued that the USA Gymnastics inquiry was filed four seconds after the minute deadline, implying that her previous score of 13.666 should be upheld. The CAS agreed with Romania’s argument, and the International Gymnastics Federation readjusted Chile’s score, removing her from the podium and awarding Barbosu with the bronze medal.
In response to this, Chiles wrote in a social media statement, “I have no words. This decision feels unjust and comes as a significant blow, not just to me, but to everyone who has championed my journey.” From placing third and winning a bronze medal to having it taken away as you’re knocked down to fifth can be extremely hard and hurtful.
Hours later, USA Gymnastics announced that they attempted to appeal the ruling through submitting a letter and additional evidence to the CAS. The further evidence was a time-stamped video displaying Landi submitting her inquiry “47 seconds after the score was posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the score was originally posted.”
The team stated that they did not have access to the footage prior to the decision being made. However, USA gymnastics was notified by the CAS that “their rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented.” Therefore, even with the new evidence presented in support of Chiles receiving her medal back, the Court of Arbitration for Sport continued to confirm in another statement that the decision was final.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/12/sport/jordan-chiles-bronze-olympics-controversy-explained/index.html
https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/olympics/2024/08/13/jordan-chiles-2024-paris-olympics-gymnastics-bronze-medal-controversy/74782464007/
