New twist in US gymnast Jordan Chiles’ Olympic medal saga

USA Gymnastics is challenging the ruling of Olympic officials that called for Team USA’s Jordan Chiles to return her bronze medal she won during the individual floor exercise final last week. Chiles was awarded the medal after her coach, Cecile Landi, submitted a review of the judges’ scores.

However, the decision this weekend by the Court of Arbitration for Sport said Landi had asked for the review four seconds after a one-minute deadline to submit such a request had expired, per competition rules. This meant Romania’s Ana Barbosu won the bronze.

But on Sunday, Aug. 11, USA Gymnastics fired back at that ruling, saying it submitted time-stamped video evidence showing the request was made within the one minute mark — 47 seconds after the score was announced, to be exact.

USA Gymnastics has submitted additional evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. pic.twitter.com/GOKymbAtcq

— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) August 11, 2024

“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’ statement read.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee issued a statement of its own in support of Chiles.

“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 USOPC said.

Olympic officials have yet to respond to the latest twist in this gymnastics saga. Previously, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in a statement it would contact the USOPC regarding the return of Chiles’ bronze and will work with the Romanian Olympic Committee to discuss a reallocation ceremony honoring Barbosu.

On Saturday, Chiles said she was taking a break from social media, posting to Instagram she was “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.” Her teammate, Simone Biles, sending a message saying “Sending you so much love Jordan. Keep your chin up ‘Olympic champ’ we love you.”

Biles and Chiles were part of a golden moment together earlier in the games. Team USA took home the gold medal in the women’s gymnastics team final.