Jordan Chiles has to return her bronze medal. © ANSA / CAROLINE BREHMAN

Confusion over bronze medal continues

The US National Olympic Committee has announced an appeal against the sports tribunal ruling that stripped American Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal in floor exercise.

August 12, 2024

From: dpa/apa

"We firmly believe that Jordan deserved to win the bronze medal and that there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the subsequent appeal process by the CAS that must be corrected," the US committee said in a statement, according to the AP news agency.

The International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had previously upheld an appeal by the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, which contested that the request for a subsequent change in Chiles' score had been submitted too late. The CAS ad hoc chamber agreed with the argument and ruled that Chiles' original score of 13,666 points must be re-evaluated. This decision moved Romanian Ana Barbosu up to third place with 13,700 points.

Simone Biles (left) congratulated Jordan Chiles. © APA/afp / GABRIEL BOUYS

There is contact with the US committee regarding the return of the medal and with the National Olympic Committee of Romania regarding the handover of the precious metal to Barbosu, as the International Olympic Committee confirmed in response to a dpa inquiry.

Objection follows objection

On Saturday evening, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) announced that as a result of the CAS decision, Chiles' original score was again valid and Barbosu was again ranked third.
In the floor decision on August 5, the US team appealed against Chile's score.

Ana Barbosu could benefit from the decision. © ANSA / CAROLINE BREHMAN

After examining the video recordings, the jury decided to recognize one element and increase the difficulty level. The decision was only made after the rankings were announced. At this point, Barbosu had already celebrated her third place in the hall with the national flag over her shoulder.

The Romanian federation then lodged an appeal with the CAS on the grounds that the US team had requested the correction after one minute and four seconds instead of within one minute after the score was announced. The CAS agreed and declared the upward correction to be ineffective.