American gymnast Jordan Chiles may lose Olympic bronze after CAS ruling

Paris, Aug 11 (IANS) American gymnast Jordan Chiles may be required to return the bronze medal she won at the 2024 Paris Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in favour of an appeal by the Romanian gymnastics team.

Jordan Chiles initially scored 13.666 in Monday's final, placing fifth. Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, with a score of 13.7, believed she had won bronze. However, after Chiles' coach, Cecile Landi, requested a review of her difficulty rating, officials upgraded her score to 13.766, moving her to third place.

This adjustment upset Barbosu, who had already begun celebrating, and led to a protest from the Romanian team.

After the medal ceremony, the Romanian team filed its own appeal, noting that Team USA’s appeal occurred outside the one-minute time limit to question the judges’ scores."The applicants sought a ruling from the CAS Ad hoc Division concluding that the inquiry was filed beyond the 1-minute deadline specified in art. 8.5 of FIG 2024 Technical Regulations (i.e., 1 minute and 4 seconds) and dismissing the inquiry as untimely, thereby upholding the initial score of 13.666 and adjusting the final ranking accordingly," the CAS statement read.

"The applicants also sought a conclusion that the penalty of 0.1 for execution imposed on Ms Sabrina Maneca-Voinea was given without basis, thereby increasing her score to 13.800, and that the final ranking be adjusted accordingly. Subsidiarily, the applicants requested a ruling adjusting the ranking of Ms Ana Maria Barbosu, Ms Sabina Maneca-Voinea and Ms Jordan Chiles by placing all three athletes in 3rd position and the allocation of medals to all three athletes," it added.

In reinstating Chiles' score to 13.666, Cas also said that "The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique shall determine the ranking of the final of the women’s floor exercise and assign the medal(s) in accordance with the above decision."

Following th CAS ruling, USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee issued a joint statement, saying, "We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise. 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."

"Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support, or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her," it added.