The USPOC appealed the decision to strip Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal. This was the result

Despite the best efforts of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, or USPOC, American gymnast Jordan Chiles will have to surrender the bronze medal she won at the Paris Olympics.

According to the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, or CAS, on Monday rejected a request from the USPOC to reopen the case that led the International Gymnastics Federation, or FIG, to strip Chiles of her bronze medal in favor of Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu.

In an official communication with the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, or FRG, CAS said “it has been concluded conclusively established through the official records provided by the International Gymnastics Federation, unchallenged by any side during the proceedings, that this appeal filed by the Mrs. Landi was passed late after the 1 minutes limit.”

On Sunday, the USPOC had appealed a previous ruling by the CAS, and the subsequent decision by the International Olympic Committee and FIG, that stripped Chiles of the bronze medal she won for her performance in the individual floor exercise final.

That ruling by CAS stated that the U.S. and Landi had failed to submit an inquiry into Chiles’ score on floor in the allotted time, per FIG rules. In other words, the ruling said that the inquiry that had enabled Chiles to leapfrog a pair of Romanian gymnasts in the standings to win the bronze medal shouldn’t have happened.

USA gymnastics cited video evidence in its appeal of the original ruling by CAS, evidence that it said “conclusively” established that Chiles’ 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.”

USAG further stated that the “time-stamped, video evidence ... 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 video wasn’t submitted earlier, the organization claimed, because it “was not available ... prior to the tribunal’s decision and thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it.”

Monday afternoon, the USPOC responded to the CAS rejection of its appeal, stating “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.”

Why did Jordan Chiles win a bronze medal in the first place?

The individual women’s floor final at the Paris Olympics pitted some of the best athletes in the sport against each other on the fan favorite event.

Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won the gold medal, edging out the United States’ Simone Biles and Chiles.

Chiles was initially in fifth place in the competition with a score of 13.666, behind Andrade, Biles and two Romanian gymnasts — Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.

An appeal by Chiles’ coach — Landi — led the judges to add one-tenth of a point to Chiles’ score, which pushed her score to a 13.766, ahead of the 13.700 score given to both Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea.

Initially, Barbosu appeared to have won the bronze and celebrated on the floor with her country’s flag, alongside Andrade and Biles, but that celebration proved premature after the appeal of Chiles’ score was considered.

Why did Jordan Chiles have to give up her bronze medal?

An appeal by the FRG compelled the CAS to examine the score inquiry that led to Chiles getting the bronze medal. It was found that Landi was four seconds late in filing her inquiry into Chiles’ score, a violation of FIG rules.

CAS ruled that because of the tardiness of the inquiry, Chiles’ score shouldn’t have been amended and she shouldn’t have won the bronze medal.

FIG and the IOC then announced Saturday that, as a result of the ruling by CAS, Chiles would have to surrender the bronze medal and Barbosu would be the official bronze medalist.

The USPOC’s reaction to the ruling was one of devastation.

“We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise,” read a release. “The inquiry into the difficulty value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring.”

Then USPOC then filed an appeal of the CAS, as mentioned above, on Sunday.

Why not share the bronze medal?

According to reports, both the USAG and FRG were open to having Chiles and Barbosu (as well Maneca-Voinea, though an appeal on her behalf was rejected outright by CAS) share the bronze medal, but the IOC and FIG ruled that such an outcome was impossible.

Said the FRG in a release, “The Romanian Gymnastics Federation has taken note of the international accusations and wishes to clarify certain extremely important aspects through this press release. The initiative to award bronze medals to all three athletes, Jordan Chiles, Ana-Maria Bărbosu, and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, was proposed by the lawyers of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, with the prior approval of the Federation.

“The leadership of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation (FRG), through its representatives, took all necessary steps to reach this consensus. We emphasize that certain requests were made by the American side to achieve this goal, and our side consistently complied with these requests, a fact that was appreciated by the American representative. Throughout this period, FRG was supported by Nadia Comăneci to reach a fair consensus for all athletes, considering the technical difficulties encountered by the International Gymnastics Federation.

“FRG, together with its partners, has always sought to resolve this dispute in a manner that shows respect and appreciation for the athletes involved. We hereby appeal to the entire gymnastics community, both within the country and abroad, to put an end to the attacks against gymnasts Jordan Chiles, Ana-Maria Bărbosu, and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, and especially against Nadia Comăneci, whose support has always been in favor of all three athletes/three medals. FRG never agreed on taking away a medal.”

Reactions to Jordan Chiles decision

As the FRG noted, attacks on gymnasts — be it Chiles or Barbosu — have been regular on social media.

Chiles has refrained from public comment, only going on Instagram to say “I am taking the time and removing myself from social media for my mental health thank you.”

Barbosu also posted on Instagram, expressing empathy for both Chiles and Maneca-Voinea. She wrote, “Sabrina, 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 with share the same podium.”

Former U.S. Olympian Aly Raisman appeared on the Today Show to denounce criticism of any of the gymnasts involved in the controversy, noting, “This is just so heartbreaking, and I’m just so gutted for Jordan. I can’t even imagine what this past week has been like for Jordan and the other athletes involved. This is completely devastating. I don’t think people realize these gymnasts work their entire lives for this moment, and it’s supposed to be a celebration. This was one of my favorite moments at the Olympics, watching Jordan celebrate. I think it’s so unfair. It’s so cruel.”

Raisman added that she believes Chiles shouldn’t be compelled to return her bronze medal.

“The IOC has given more than one medal before, and I think that they should do that now,” Raisman said, before adding that she “can’t even believe that we’re in this position.”

“As an athlete, we trust the process,” she said. “We trust that the rules are in place, that there’s been a lot of thought behind it, and that the rules are there to be fair. Going forward, we need to understand how this is happening and how to ensure this doesn’t happen again. It’s appalling, but I think that the organizations that are in charge of this need to really look at the athletes’ mental health and how much this is affecting them, and how cruel it is to take a medal away from someone,” she continued. “It’s just, like, unfathomable to me.”

Chiles’ teammates at the Paris Games have all expressed their support of her publicly via Instagram stories, with Biles writing, “Sending you so much love Jordan. Keep your chin up Olympic champ! We love you!”