Jordan Chiles will officially have to give back her bronze medal. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) made the decision on Monday (Aug. 12) that Chiles’ bronze medal will be taken back after it was awarded to the US gymnast after her score was reinstated for the women’s individual floor exercise final last week.
“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,” the statement read. “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.”
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USA Gymnastics made an inquiry into Chiles’ score after Coach Cecile Landi found that the judges did not consider her level of difficulty in her final scoring. Chiles was originally awarded a 13.666 landing her in fifth place behind two Romanian athletes — Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea — who were tied for third and fourth with 13.700.
After judges accepted Landi’s appeal of Chiles’ score, the American gymnast was awarded a 13.766, which put her in third place and earned her the bronze medal.
The Internet Reacts To CAS Decision On Jordan Chiles Bronze Medal
The controversy began after Chiles stood on the podium with teammate Simone Biles with the silver and Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade winning gold.
Landi spoke about the controversy last week after a fan suggested that Chiles was taking the bronze medal from the Romanian athletes.
“Inquiries are a standard part of gymnastics competitions” and “scores can be adjusted up or down based on an inquiry,” according to the Associated Press.
Landi also responded to the user in a lengthy message to the Instagram user, explaining why she decided to send an inquiry to the judges about Chiles’ score.
“I shouldn’t have to explain but I will ONCE Jordan’s highest possible SV on floor is a 5.9- At quals and team finals she received a 5.8 and we didn’t question it because we saw that not all elements were completed,” she wrote in the comment section of her post on Instagram congratulating Simone Biles and Chiles for their performance at the Olympics. “During floor finals, we thought I was better and being placed 5th with nothing to lose , I sent the inquiry so I wouldn’t regret not asking. I didn’t think it would be accepted and at my surprise it was. Jordan won this bronze medal and didn’t steal anything from anyone.”
She continued: “I simply did my job and fought for my athlete. Do I feel bad for the Romanian athlete? Of course I do! It was so sad and heartbreaking to see but it is the sport! You don’t have to like it but you do have to respect the outcome and more importantly respect Jordan and not drag her down because you disagree. She EARNED that bronze medal, her 1st individual Olympic medal and I couldn’t be more proud and excited!”
After CAS’ final decision, fans weighed in on X, expressing their frustration after the USA Gymnastics team proved that they got their inquiry in on time with video evidence despite CAS stating that the late inquiry was why Chiles would have to give back her medal.
“This is crazy,” one X user wrote. “How is it allowed to open a case five days later and strip an athlete of a medal, but you aren’t allowed to countersue presenting new evidence? Smh.”
Another X fan weighed in writing, “So they can do whatever they want (no matter if it’s right or wrong) & that’s it? They’ve made it very clear they just want to make some weird example out of Jordan. At the end of the day we got the moment, pics and vids of her with the bronze medal and they can’t take that away.”
Chiles has not made a statement about the decision as of this writing.
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