Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics still fighting for Jordan Chiles’s bronze medal

Chiles celebrated her third-place finish on the medal stand in Paris, but the International Olympic Committee determined Sunday, six days after the event, that Romania’s Ana Barbosu will receive the bronze instead and Chiles must return her medal.

USA Gymnastics has fought back, and on Sunday the organization said it formally submitted video footage to CAS that it claims proves Chiles is the deserving third-place finisher. However, USA Gymnastics said in a statement Monday that, according to the court’s rules, it would not reconsider its previous decision.

“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.

The controversy centers on Chiles’s last-minute score change, which bumped her from fifth place to third. Chiles’s coach, Cecile Landi, filed an inquiry after her score was posted. When the judges reevaluated her routine, Chiles’s score increased by 0.1 points. She was the final athlete to compete, and that adjustment moved her into bronze medal position ahead of Barbosu. Chiles left the arena as the bronze medalist.

The Romanian gymnastics federation then made an appeal to CAS, and the court ruled the inquiry that benefited Chiles had been filed after the one-minute deadline, thus rendering the decisive inquiry invalid. The court ruled Chiles’s original score should be reinstated. In response, the International Gymnastics Federation modified the results of the competition—shifting Chiles to fifth place and Barbosu to third—and the IOC confirmed the medal would be redistributed to reflect that adjustment.

USA Gymnastics has said it has video showing Landi stated her request for an inquiry 47 seconds after Chiles’s score appeared. The organization noted that it did not have this footage at the time of the court’s ruling and thus could not submit it as evidence. But CAS will not reopen the case, so USA Gymnastics must rely on other avenues as it continues to fight for Chiles’s bronze medal.

Here’s what to know about the controversy:

What were the original results of the floor final?

Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade clinched the gold medal with a fantastic routine that scored a 14.166. U.S. star Simone Biles stepped out of bounds multiple times but earned a 14.133, which was good enough for silver.

Chiles initially scored a 13.666. She was the final competitor, so it appeared she would finish fifth. Barbosu and fellow Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea each posted a 13.700, but Barbosu had the edge because ties are broken by execution score.

Soon after Chiles’s score appeared, though, Landi requested an inquiry, an appeals process that allows coaches to dispute the difficulty score awarded to their gymnasts. Barbosu had already begun celebrating when Chiles’s updated score appeared: 13.766. That moved Chiles into third place, leading to an emotional scene with Chiles in tears as she hugged Landi—and Barbosu looking up at the scoreboard, stunned.

Andrade, Biles and Chiles received medals afterward, and on the podium, Biles and Chiles bowed to Andrade in a sign of respect for the Brazilian star. Images from that moment—now tarnished because of the controversy that followed—were widely shared on social media.

What is an inquiry?

Inquiries exist to correct judging errors—but only those related to a gymnast’s difficulty score, not the execution score.

Each routine earns a difficulty mark based on the complexity of the elements the athlete performs. Judges keep track of the skills as a gymnast performs; athletes do not submit their intended routines ahead of a competition, and they are allowed to adjust on the fly. Judges must determine whether each element meets the requirements to receive credit, and those decisions often spark inquiries. Coaches are also allowed to ask judges to review neutral deductions related to the time of the routine or a gymnast stepping outside the boundary.

When an inquiry is submitted, judges review video of the routine. It can be risky—scores can go up or down. Federations must make a payment to an FIG foundation if a gymnast’s score does not change or goes down as the result of an inquiry. Together, the risk and the financial cost deter coaches from inquiring all the time.

It’s normal for there to be occasional inquiries, but the circumstances that maximized the drama in Paris are rare. The last-minute change in the outcome only unfolded as it did because Chiles was the last competitor and the one-tenth increase was enough to change who won bronze.

Why did Chiles’s coach file an inquiry?

Chiles’s routine initially earned a difficulty score of 5.8. That’s the same mark she had in her previous two outings—the qualifying round and the team final—but her maximum mark is 5.9.

Chiles hadn’t received credit for her tour jeté with a full turn, a leaping element known as a Gogean, because the judges didn’t think she fully completed the turn. In the floor final, Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead of the U.S. high performance staff who has judged at elite competitions, said she thought in real time, “Hm, she could get that one.” When the judges reviewed the routine, they awarded Chiles credit and boosted her difficulty score to 5.9.

Why does the timing of the inquiry matter?

The rules of the sport state that an inquiry must be raised verbally before the score of the next gymnast is shown. If an athlete is the last one to compete in a rotation, an inquiry must be submitted no later than one minute after the score is shown. Chiles competed last, so Landi had less time than usual to begin the appeals process.

Did Chiles’s coach inquire within one minute as required?

We don’t know. The Romanians’ appeal to CAS stated that Chiles’s inquiry had been filed 1 minute 4 seconds after receiving the score, and the court ruled the inquiry had indeed been filed past the one-minute deadline. The court did not specify how it came to that conclusion.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement that it has time-stamped video that 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 did not release this video.

A key frustration raised by gymnastics fans in recent days has centered on why FIG does not have a visible, transparent timekeeping method to enforce these deadlines in the arena. If Landi did file the inquiry after the deadline, it should have never been accepted. If she was too late and the rules had been followed in the moment, there would have been no need to retroactively render an inquiry invalid and modify the results of the competition.

Who is making these decisions?

The Court of Arbitration for Sport, an independent body that resolves athletics disputes, determined Chiles’s original score should be reinstated. The International Gymnastics Federation then announced it updated the results of the competition accordingly, but a spokesperson said the reallocation of medals was the responsibility of the International Olympic Committee. The IOC then confirmed it would award Barbosu a bronze and the organization was in touch with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee regarding the return of Chiles’s medal.

What’s next?

USA Gymnastics said it would continue to pursue an appeal via the Swiss Federal Tribunal and other avenues. It is unclear if and when such bodies would take action.

USA Gymnastics and the USOPC have forcefully stood behind Chiles and their belief that she rightfully earned the bronze medal.

How has Chiles responded?

She hasn’t said much publicly. Around the time of the CAS ruling, she posted on Instagram: “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health thank you.”

In their joint statement Saturday, USA Gymnastics and the USOPC condemned the “consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks” Chiles has endured on social media.