Court rejects US appeal in Jordan Chiles bronze medal fight

An international sporting court rejected an appeal by Team USA on Monday against an Olympics decision to strip American gymnast Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal, claiming it has no way to reverse the move.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped Chiles on Saturday of the bronze medal for the women's artistic floor exercise final, claiming that a coach appeal to her score came four seconds after the allotted time, meaning her true score was lower than initially believed. That awarded the bronze to Romanian Ana Barbosu. 

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and USA Gymnastics appealed that decision, providing additional video evidence that they claim proves that the coach appeal came within the 60-second time limit. 

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the U.S. appeal on Monday, USA Gymnastics said, stating that it cannot reconsider an arbitral award, even if it is provided with new, conclusive evidence of a mistake in scoring.

“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,” USA Gymnastics said Monday in a statement.

In its ruling Saturday, the CAS said coach Cecile Landi’s appeal to have 0.1 added to Chiles’s score was outside of the 60-second window granted by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), The Associated Press reported. Landi’s appeal came 64 seconds after Chiles’s initial score was posted, the CAS said.

USA Gymnastics said Sunday that it submitted evidence for the CAS appeal showing that the appeal came 47 seconds after the score was published, not 64 seconds, meaning it should have been upheld.

“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 is posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the score was originally posted,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement.

“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,” the group continued.

Chiles initially received a score of 13.666, placing her fifth before her coach called for an inquiry.

Rapper Flavor Flav, who has been a vocal advocate for American Olympians at this year’s games, said Monday that he would pay for a bronze clock necklace for Chiles to make up for the medal.

The battle for the bronze has already carried past the end of the Paris Olympics, which held its closing ceremony Sunday.

Team USA led all countries in medals at the Games and tied China for most gold medals at 40.