Team USA challenges decision to strip Jordan Chiles of bronze medal, offers visual proof to back claim

PARIS, FRANCE: USA Gymnastics has made a strong claim, stating they have convincing video evidence that supports gymnast Jordan Chiles' right to keep her bronze medal from the recent World Gymnastics Championships.

This announcement emerges amid ongoing controversy and critical examination of Chiles' performance.

USA Gymnastics claims scoring discrepancies affected Jordan Chiles' standing

The dispute erupted after the competition, with some critics questioning the validity of Chiles' bronze medal in the women’s all-around category. Allegations surfaced suggesting that scoring discrepancies might have affected the final standings.

In response, USA Gymnastics has moved swiftly to defend Chiles' accomplishment, unveiling what they describe as "decisive" video evidence to substantiate their claim.

"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 rule," The federation issued a statement that was shared with People on August 11.

The letter submitted to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) contains a plea from USA Gymnastics to "ruling be revised and Chiles’ bronze-medal score of 13.766 reinstated," according to the statement dated August 11 (Sunday).

Chiles, 23, initially scored 13.666 in the women's floor exercise final on August 5, ranking her fifth. However, her coach, Cecile Landi, contested that the judges had misjudged the difficulty of Chiles' routine.

The judges concurred, revising her score to 13.766 and elevating her to third place, surpassing Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who each scored 13.700.

Romania's Olympic Committee protests against IOC

Romania's Olympic Committee lodged a protest with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), asserting that Landi's inquiry, which led to Chiles securing the third-place score, was not submitted within the required timeframe.

The complaint alleged that Landi's submission was four seconds late.

In their statement on August 11, USA Gymnastics announced that they have submitted "time-stamped, video evidence" to the CAS that "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."

"The basis for the CAS ruling on Friday striking down the inquiry was that 'The inquiry submitted on behalf of Ms Jordan Chiles in the Final of the women’s floor exercise was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline provided by article 8.5 of the 2024 FIG Technical Regulations and is determined to be without effect,'" USA Gymnastics continued.

Why USA Gymnastics did not submit the video earlier?

USA Gymnastics further stated explaining the reason for not submitting the video earlier. It said, "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."

Subsequently, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) must examine the evidence presented by USA Gymnastics to decide if the current ruling should be upheld.

Earlier on Sunday, the IOC decided to strip Chiles of her bronze medal, which sparked fervent discussion on social media.

Chiles announced that she would be leaving the online discussion after finding out about the decision. She posted on Instagram, saying, "I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you."

Internet says Jordan Chiles 'deserves' to keep that bronze medal

Facebook users supported Jordan Chiles saying she should get to keep her medal. A user wrote, "Jordan deserves to keep that bronze metal instead of giving it back it's a sad way to do such a talented young lady"

Another added, "Jordan Chiles deserves to keep her medsl"

The third commentator remarked, "Please. She deserves this Hard enough to lose but to win and take medal is much harder. Very traumatic"

"Jordan was better. It was the judges who sucked and need to be penalized," one said.

A person mentioned, "She deserves the medal sheerly because the judges incorrectly scored her performance. The four seconds they say she was late with her inquiry shouldn’t matter since the judges caused this situation by messing up their scoring. They should admit their mistake and take responsibility for THEIR ERROR!"

Other chimed in, "The judges didn’t score Jordan correctly this is on them."

One of the Facebook users wrote, "She totally deserves to keep the bronze!"

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.