Jordan Chiles must return his bronze medal, says IOC

PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles must return her floor exercise bronze medal, the International Olympic Committee said on Sunday, confirming its conclusion that a coach’s appeal that took her to the podium should not have been allowed.

Chiles, 23, had initially finished fifth in the competition on Monday, ahead of US coach Cecile Landi. successfully lobbied for his athlete’s difficulty score to be downplayed.

Employees on scene agreed and adjusted Chiles’ score by 0.1 points, to 13.766, which put her above two Romanian athletes, provoking an angry reaction from that delegation.

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Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said he would refuse to attend the Olympics closing ceremony in protest.

The IOC said on Sunday it would respect the Sport Arbitration Courttwhich determined that Landi’s protest was made 64 seconds after the scores were published. The deadline for such an action is one minute.

Chiles was also the victim of a bit of bad luck because she was last in the floor exercise final, so she only had a minute to check her score.

Athletes who performed before her had until the next gymnast started their routines to register an appointment, which normally takes three or four minutes.

Chiles’ investigation concerned a skill in his routine called Gogean, which is a 1.5-turn split jump. She originally received no credit from the judges for this change.

The judges’ score sheets are not published, but it is worth noting that the CAS decision only dealt with the timing of Landi’s action, and not the validity of this inquiry.

Romanian Ana Barbosu18 years old, will now be the bronze medalist in floor exercise.

“Following the CAS decision regarding the women’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise final and the change of classification by the International Gymnastics Federation, the IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Bărbosu (Romania),” the IOC said in a statement on Sunday. . “We are in contact with the NOC of Romania to discuss the relocation ceremony and with the USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee backed down a few hours later and said it would file its own appeal.

“We firmly believe that Jordan legitimately won the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) scoring and the subsequent CAS appeals process that need to be resolved,” he said in a statement.

“Given these circumstances, we are committed to pursuing an appeal to help Jordan Chiles receive the recognition he deserves,” the US committee said. “We remain dedicated to supporting her as an Olympic champion and will continue to work diligently to resolve this matter quickly and fairly.”

USA Gymnastics refuted the claim, saying coach Cecile Landi filed the inquiry within 47 seconds, within the one-minute window. The organization said Sunday it has presented time-stamped video evidence.

“The video provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the court’s ruling and therefore USAG did not have the opportunity to submit it in advance,” the organization said.

Bărbosu said in a statement that he sympathizes with fifth-placed Chiles and fourth-placed Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.

“Sabrina, Jordan, my thoughts are with you,” she said in a statement on Sunday. “I know what you’re feeling because I’ve been through the same thing. But I know you’ll come back stronger.”

The teenager says she hopes to compete with Chiles and Maneca-Voinea again.

“I hope from the bottom of my heart that in the next Olympics, the three of us will share the same podium,” she said.

It was not immediately clear if or how Chiles would physically return the medal.

She has since left France and appeared on NBC’s “TODAY” show Thursday in New York.

Chiles still has the gold for the women’s team overall. She won silver in Tokyo, also on the all-around team.

“We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision regarding women’s floor exercise,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement Saturday night. “The investigation into the difficulty value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was presented in good faith and, we believe, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure an accurate score.”

The sport’s governing body in the US also said the athlete has been “subject to consistent, completely unfounded and extremely damaging attacks on social media” since the matter came to light.

“No athlete should be subjected to such treatment,” they said in the statement. “We condemn attacks and those who engage in, support or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity in and out of competition and continue to support her.”

Chiles posted four broken heart emojis to her Instagram on Saturday and said she would be off social media to process this stunning turn of events.

“I’m taking time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you,” she wrote.

David K. Li reported from Paris and Katie Distler and Kaetlyn Liddy from New York.