USA Gymnastics fights back after Jordan Chiles ordered to return Olympic medal

USA Gymnastics (USAG) will appeal the Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) decision to strip Jordan Chiles of her Bronze medal in the floor exercise final at the Paris Olympics .

“USA Gymnastics on Sunday formally submitted a letter and video evidence to the Court of Arbitration for sports, 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," USAG stated .

The last gymnast to compete, Chiles originally finished fifth in the floor final with a score of 13.666 before her coach Cecile Landi appealed the decision. The judges added 0.1 to Chiles' score following the appeal, and she climbed up to third in the overall rankings.

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Ana Barbosu, the Romanian gymnast who originally finished in third, was left in disbelief. Chiles stood on the podium to claim her medal shortly after alongside Simone Biles , who claimed the silver.

However, CAS ruled on Saturday that Landi's appeal came four seconds after the allowed one-minute window and thus the original order would be restored. As of now, Barbosu is set to be awarded the bronze medal.

Marcel Ciolacu, the Prime Minister of Romania, originally threatened to have his nation boycott the closing ceremony following the initial ruling. He reacted to the verdict by saying: "Justice has been served."

In their most recent appeal, USA Gymnastics claims it has different evidence ruling that Landi's request came 47 seconds after the release of the score and should be accepted.

“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 was posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the score was originally posted," USAG asserted .

"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."

When the ruling from CAS was released on Saturday, Chiles tweeted: “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health. Thank you.”

Chiles' sister, Jazmin, posted on Instagram that her sister lost the medal "not because she wasn't good enough. But because the judges failed to give her difficulty and forced an inquiry to be made.”

The case is far from being settled, anything handled by CAS can take months or even years to process. As of now, Chiles is still in possession of the medal but will have to turn it over.