USA Gymnastics Says It Has Video Evidence to Prove Jordan Chiles Was Wrongly Stripped of Her Medal

USA Gymnastics announced Sunday that it has video evidence proving conclusively that an appeal of Jordan Chiles’ scoring in the women’s floor exercise Olympic competition was submitted in the time allotted. Therefore, she should retain her bronze medal.

Chiles had been awarded the bronze on Aug. 5 after coach Cecile Landi appealed, saying the difficulty score for the routine the gymnast had received was not correctly calculated.

“The challenge was successful, and Chiles’ score was bumped from 13.666 (fifth place) to 13.766 (third place),” Sports Illustrated reported.

The new score pushed Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu into fourth place, and Chiles received her medal.

Gold medalist Rebeca Andrade celebrates on the podium with silver medalist Simone Biles and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles during the medal ceremony for the women’s floor exercise at the #Paris2024 #Olympics. More photos of the week: https://t.co/CTBm7Enxw2 📷 @hannahmckay88 pic.twitter.com/w8lsWcX6tA

— Reuters Pictures (@reuterspictures) August 11, 2024

However, one day after the competition, Romania filed a protest with the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport, saying Landi was four seconds late making her appeal of the score, which must be done within the minute allotted.

The CAS agreed and said Chiles must surrender her medal, so it can be awarded to Barbosu. Chiles wrote in an Instagram story on Saturday that she was heartbroken by the decision and is “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you,” according to CBS News.

The IOC is making Jordan Chiles give back her bronze medal because the coach’s appeal that got her on the stadium was submitted four seconds late, per @WillGravesAP

She finished fifth originally but moved into third after her coach successfully appealed Chiles’ difficulty score… pic.twitter.com/Tw0k1LDMg7

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 11, 2024

USA Gymnastics announced on Sunday it had new video evidence showing Landi made her appeal of the score at 47 seconds, so within a minute.

“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,” the organization said in a statement.

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

— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) August 11, 2024

“The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the tribunal’s decision and thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it,” USA Gymnastics added.

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced its plans to appeal the Chiles ruling, too.

“The USOPC will be appealing the recent decision made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding Jordan Chiles,” the organization said in a statement Sunday.

Breaking: USOPC to appeal CAS ruling on Jordan Chiles. pic.twitter.com/CQANoZdNd1

— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) August 11, 2024

“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.”