The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday rejected a request by USA Gymnastics to reopen the case against Olympic gymnastics’ women’s floor exercise, a day after the International Olympic Committee said Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal would be reassigned to Romania’s Ana Parbosu.
A court ruled Saturday that Chiles’ coach’s challenge — which raised the U.S. gymnast’s score to the bronze medal level — was invalid because it occurred four seconds after the one-minute window for such a challenge had closed.
This led the International Gymnastics Federation to revise its floor fitness rankings, dropping Chiles to fifth place, and prompted the IOC to adjust its medals accordingly.
However, USA Gymnastics said on Sunday it obtained video evidence showing coach Cecile Landi appealing 47 seconds after Chiles’ score was posted — 13 seconds into the window — and submitted the evidence to CAS for review.
It said it would continue the appeals process at the Swiss Federal Tribunal on Monday.
“USA Gymnastics announced Monday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that their rules do not allow them to reconsider a referee’s decision even if conclusive new evidence is presented,” it said. “We are deeply disappointed by the announcement and will pursue every possible avenue and appeals process, including the Swiss Federal Tribunal, to ensure proper scoring, placement and medal award for Jordan.”
CAS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Monday’s decision is the latest in a complicated back-and-forth between national gymnastics federations and international bodies. It comes a week after one of the most emotional moments of the Games, which ended with Chiles and Purposu in tears on the podium.
Chile was the last of the nine competitors in the floor final. Needing more than 13.7 to overtake Romanian gymnasts Bărbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea for third place, she initially received a score of 13.666 from the judges.
But Landy submitted an inquiry to challenge Chiles’ typically hard score. The judges gave him an extra 0.1 and moved his score up to 13.766 to third place.
The Romanian team later petitioned the Court of Arbitration for Sport, claiming the inquiry from Landi came after the one-minute window allowed. The court agreed and held that the challenge was four seconds too late. Its ruling invalidated Chiles’ score.
The court rejected part of the Romanians’ request: to award medals to each of the gymnasts with an argument for bronze.
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