Jordan Chiles was visibly elated after studying she had gained a bronze medal within the girls’s flooring routine equipment on Aug. 5, leaping up and down along with her coach, Cecile Landi, who had efficiently appealed what she thought was a choose’s error on Chiles’ problem rating.
Nonetheless, that elation seems to be short-lived, because the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport dominated Saturday that Landi’s attraction was filed too late and, due to this fact, invalid.
Chiles was initially given a 5.800 problem rating for what Landi claimed was a 5.900 difficulty-scored routine, touchdown her in fifth after her efficiency.
However after what was on the time a profitable attraction to bump Chiles’ rating up, she moved into third and earned the bronze — a devastating improvement for Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, who initially thought she had made the Olympic podium.
After the court docket’s ruling, the official Olympic standings will forthwith mirror Chiles in fifth and Barbosu in third — the unique scoring outcomes earlier than Landi’s attraction.
Now Chiles, 4 days after she obtained the medal, could be pressured to provide it again if the Federation of Worldwide Gymnastics determines it vital, per the ruling.
U.S. Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee stood behind Chiles, blasting the court docket’s choice in a press release, saying the attraction was “filed in good religion” and, they believed, in accordance with the principles.
It’s unclear what could come subsequent within the course of, however Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci, who got here to Barbosu’s protection, endorsed the concept recommended by her nation’s delegation that each one the athletes who completed third by fifth ought to obtain bronze medals, as they should not be penalized for the judges’ authentic error.
