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    • Gymnast Jordan of Chile is not allowed to keep bronze medal after CAS ruling
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    Gymnast Jordan of Chile is not allowed to keep bronze medal after CAS ruling

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

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    USA Gymnastics announced Monday that its attempt to return the bronze medal in floor exercise to gymnast Jordan of Chile was denied.

    The association said in a statement on social media that it had been informed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that the rules “do not allow for review of an arbitration award, even if conclusive new evidence is presented.”

    “We are deeply disappointed by the notification and will continue to pursue all possible avenues and appeals, including before the Swiss Federal Court, to ensure fair scoring, ranking and medal award for Jordan.”

    The news came just over a week after the actual floor exercise competition, where a last-minute request from Chiles’ coaches sparked the saga that unfolded in the days that followed.

    How the Jordan Chiles controversy began

    In the final routine, Chiles scored 13.666, with a tenth of a point deducted for an illegal split known as a Tour Jete Full. This score placed her in fifth place, behind Barbosu and another Romanian gymnast, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, both of whom scored 13.700.

    But then Chile’s coach Cecile Landi, as she later admitted, appealed against the deduction – and the judges agreed with her. Chile’s score was increased to 13.766 points, moving her into third place ahead of the two Romanians, one of whom had already climbed onto the podium with a flag to celebrate.

    The Romanian Gymnastics Federation considered the last-minute withdrawal unfair and appealed to CAS, claiming that Landi lodged the appeal against the score – officially called an investigation – four seconds after the minute she was allotted. The Romanian Federation did not say how it knew Landi was four seconds late and did not respond to a request for comment. (It also lodged a separate appeal on behalf of Maneca-Voinea, arguing that she should not have been penalized for crossing the playing field.)

    It was not until Saturday that the CAS announced its verdict – a decision that triggered a trickle-down effect among various Olympic organizations and ultimately led the International Olympic Committee to announce that Barbosu would receive a bronze medal and Chile would be stripped of hers.

    Controversy overshadows gymnasts’ brilliance

    Until this point, the reallocation of Olympic medals had been largely limited to athletes whose placings had been affected by doping.

    Then on Sunday, USA Gymnastics announced that it had found new video footage that essentially contradicted the Romanian gymnastics federation’s time estimates. The US said it had submitted the video to CAS for review as part of its appeal of the Swiss court’s ruling.

    In the middle of the action are, of course, the athletes – namely Chiles and Barbosu.

    Barbosu, 18, was horrified when the rankings were adjusted immediately after the competition, dropping her Romanian flag to the ground in disbelief. Chiles, on the other hand, was thrilled to have won her first individual medal – although she likely experienced the same frustration as Barbosu when the IOC announced on Sunday that it would demand the return of the 23-year-old’s bronze medal.

    The Romanian Gymnastics Federation had actually requested that CAS decide that Barbosu, Chiles and Maneca-Voinea should all receive bronze medals. Instead, it deferred that decision to the International Gymnastics Federation, which has since stated that all medal decisions are made by the IOC. The IOC responded by saying that medal awards depend on the order of finish and referred a reporter’s questions to the FIG.

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    Madoc Meredith
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