On Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided a petition by USA Gymnastics to see Paris Olympian Jordan Chiles keep the bronze medal she was been awarded in the floor event. The decision follows a ruling by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the medal would be reallocated to Ana Bărbosu of Romania.
According to The NYT’s Athletic, over the weekend the ruled ruled that an inquiry submitted on Chiles’ behalf by her coach, Cecile Landi — which saw her score, initially a 13.666, enough to slot her into the third place position — was submitted four seconds after the designated one-minute inquiry window had already shuttered. USA Gymnastics, however, had attempted to fight the ruling on Sunday, claiming that it had video evidence that Landi had made the inquiry only 47 seconds after Chiles’ score had been posted.
On Monday, USA Gymnastics released the following statement, per The Athletic: “USA Gymnastics was notified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday that their rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented. We are deeply disappointed by the notification and will continue to pursue every possible avenue and appeal process, including to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, to ensure the just scoring, placement, and medal award for Jordan.”
CAS in a separate statement said, “If new evidence (i.e. objectively unknown at the time of the CAS hearing) appears after the issuance of the CAS decision, it would be possible to ask the Swiss Federal Tribunal to order that the case be reopened. The CAS would also reopen the case spontaneously if all parties agree.”
At the time of the original Romanian appeal, the country had requested that instead of taking away Chiles’ bronze to award additional bronzes to Bărbosu and another Romanian gymnast, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who was docked for stepping out of bounds when replays showed that she hadn’t, NBC News reports. Her score without that penalty would have easily qualified her for third place. Dual medals have been awarded before, in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
However, with the IOC demanding Chiles return the medal and calling for a “reallocation ceremony” to award Barbosu, it appears that this decision has been made.
In a show of solidarity, rapper Flavor Flav — who, along with Snoop Dogg, acted as a Paris Olympics patron — got Chiles a custom bronze clock to assuage the pain of being stripped of her medal. “I gots yo back @jordanchiles,” Flavor Falv wrote in an Instagram post showing the bauble.