US loses appeal but vows to keep fighting to keep Chiles’ bronze

USA Gymnastics’ latest appeal to keep Jordan Chiles’ Olympic bronze medal was denied, but the organization pledged to keep fighting on her behalf.

In a statement posted on X, USA Gymnastics announced the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) notified the organization Monday that “rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented.”

Hours after the International Olympic Committee ruled that the Chiles should return her medal because of a score change, USA Gymnastics submitted its appeal with CAS video evidence showing Chiles’ coach submitted her appeal of the judges’ scoring error was within the time limits required — and not four seconds late as CAS had originally determined.

USA Gymnastics stated the appeal process was far from over.

“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.”

According to a statement released by USAG on Sunday night, the federation submitted video evidence that shows U.S. head coach Cecile Landi filed an inquiry 47 seconds after Chiles’ score was published, which is within the one-minute time window. The Romanian Gymnastics Federation initially got the inquiry voided with an appeal to the CAS claiming that the inquiry was filed one minute and four seconds after the score was posted.

In a statement, USA Gymnastics said its time-stamped video was not available prior to the first decision.

The competition took place Aug. 5 and the CAS upheld the Romanian petition Saturday, voiding the inquiry that gave Chiles an additional one-tenth in difficulty value that pushed her from fifth to third place. The International Gymnastics Federation re-ranked the gymnasts after the decision, putting Romania’s Ana Barbosu into bronze medal position with a 13.700, but left it up to the IOC to reallocate the medals.