On Saturday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that gymnast Jordan Chiles be stripped of her bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics.
Jordan initially won bronze in the women's floor final in gymnastics. Her routine scored 13.666, placing her behind Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu. However, Coach Cécile Landi inquired about her score, which was increased to 13.766. As a result, Jordan placed above Ana in third place and earned the bronze medal.
However, the Romanian federation appealed against Jordan’s, per the Washington Post. The CAS then decided that Coach Landi’s inquiry happened 1 minute and 4 seconds after the score was called (4 seconds after the 1-minute deadline). So, Jordan’s win was effectively reversed, with Ana being awarded bronze instead.
The decision sparked outrage among Jordan’s fans, family members, and fellow Olympic athletes.
Jordan’s mom, Gina, reshared a heap of posts on X (formerly Twitter) in support of her daughter. The athlete’s sister, Jazmin Chiles, issued a lengthy statement to her Instagram story, which you can read here.
Meanwhile, the official Team USA account shared a photo of Jordan and wrote, “Forever THAT GIRL.” Olympic and NBA icon LeBron James reshared this post from Team USA alongside an infinity emoji, a brown heart, and an American flag.
Athletes Simone Biles and Suni Lee have since condemned the Olympics for the controversial move. Suni wrote on Instagram, “All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?? Completely unacceptable. This is awful and I’m gutted for Jordan,” while Simone said, “Sending you so much love Jordan. Keep your chin up olympic champ! We love you.”
Ana issued a statement that read in part, “Jordan, my thoughts are with you. I know what you are feeling, because I've been through the same. But I know you'll come back stronger. I hope from deep of my heart that at the next Olympics, all three of us will share the same podium… This situation would not have existed if the persons in charge had respected the regulation. We, athletes are not to be blamed, and the hate directed to us is painful.”
Meanwhile, Jordan kept things brief in a short statement shared to her Instagram story: “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health thank you.”
Now, the official USA Gymnastics account has shared a statement revealing that new video evidence has been submitted in Jordan’s case.
“USA Gymnastics on Sunday formally submitted a letter and video evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, conclusively establishing that Head Coach Cecile Landi's request to file an inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after the publishing of the score, within the 1-minute deadline required by FIG [International Gymnastics Federation] rule,” the group wrote.
“In the letter, USA Gymnastics requests that the CAS ruling be revised and Chiles’ bronze-medal score of 13.766 reinstated,” they clarified.
“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,” they added.
“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,” they concluded.