New video footage may have captured the moment the investigation into Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise score at the Olympics was launched – and could have a major impact on the decisions surrounding her bronze medal, USA Gymnastics announced Sunday.
The organization issued a statement on Sunday afternoon saying it had submitted “additional evidence” to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, just a day after the court ruled to annul Chile’s bronze medal result.
According to USA Gymnastics, new video evidence shows that an initial review of Chiles’ score occurred after her final floor exercise performance well within the one-minute time limit.
Chiles finished her Olympic floor exercise on Monday with a score of 13.666, placing her in fifth place just behind two Romanian athletes. Cecile Landi, Chiles’ personal trainer and also coach of the US team in Paris, appealed to the judges to reinstate an element in Chiles’ routine.
The judges upheld the appeal and increased Chiles’ score by 0.1, which was enough for Chiles to win her third Olympic medal.
But the Romanian Gymnastics Federation asked CAS to review the proceedings related to Landis’ appeal against Chiles’ score.
According to the guidelines of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), coaches must appeal the result within one minute of it being published.
The CAS ruled that Landi had officially lodged her appeal within one minute and four seconds, shortly after the one-minute deadline had expired.
Now USA Gymnastics has said video evidence has emerged showing that Landi first requested an investigation 47 seconds after the result was released.
“The time-stamped video evidence provided by USA Gymnastics on Sunday evening shows that Landi first made her request for an investigation at the examination table 47 seconds after the result was released, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the result was originally released,” USA Gymnastics’ statement said. “The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the Tribunal’s decision and therefore USAG did not have the opportunity to submit it previously.”
USA Gymnastics said it sent a letter along with the video asking the court to reverse its ruling and restore Chiles’ score.
Here is an explanation of what has happened so far:
Jordan Chiles secures the bronze medal due to last minute point change
Chiles qualified third in the women’s floor exercise and competed last in the eight-woman final, where the order was randomly determined in advance.
The 23-year-old completed her routine and received 13,666 points, which meant fifth place just behind Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea with 13,700 points.
Cecile Landi, Chiles’ personal trainer and also coach of the US team in Paris, appealed to the judges to restore an element in Chiles’ routine.
The judges upheld the appeal and increased Chiles’ score by 0.1, enough for Chiles to win her third Olympic medal of her career, adding to the silver medal with the team she won in Tokyo in 2021 and the gold medal with the team she helped the United States win in Paris.
Romania appeals against Jordan Chiles’ rating
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation asked CAS to review the proceedings related to Landis’ appeal against Chiles’ score.
According to the guidelines of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), coaches must appeal the result within one minute of it being published.
The CAS ruled that Landi had officially lodged her appeal within one minute and four seconds, shortly after the one-minute deadline had expired.
The appeal against Chiles was upheld and the CAS decided that Chiles’ score should be reduced back to 13.666 and the original order at the finish should be restored.
IOC: Jordan Chiles must return her bronze medal
The CAS wrote in its decision that the FIG should determine the final ranking, but added that the FIG should award the medal “in accordance with” the CAS decision. The FIG ranked Barbosu third, Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth.
The FIG stated that although the original order had been restored, it was at the discretion of the IOC what would happen to the medals.
The IOC announced that the bronze medal would indeed go to Barbosu and that it would work with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to return the bronze medal to Chile.
The decision is in line with the IOC’s usual practice in awarding medals.
At the Olympic Games, the governing body of the respective sport manages the competition and decides on the results. The IOC usually accepts this result – once the appeals to the CAS have been completed – and officially awards the medals.
Reaction of the gymnasts
While things remained relatively quiet for Barbosu afterwards, this was not the case for Maneca-Voinea.
She took to her social media accounts to point out what she believed was an incorrect scoring during her routine. The judges deducted 0.1 points for stepping out of bounds while turning at the start of a tumbling pass.
Video evidence appeared to indicate that Maneca-Voinea’s heel had not actually touched the boundary. The Romanian FA asked CAS to restore Maneca-Voinea’s score to 0.1 for a penalty awarded to her “unjustified”.
The request was partially rejected because Maneca-Voinea’s coach did not appeal the result in real time during the competition.
Chiles, who left Paris earlier this week to return to his native United States, disappeared from social media shortly before the CAS decision was published.
Shortly after the final, Chiles posted on X: “It’s funny how there are some people who can never be happy for anyone.”
But in her Instagram story on Saturday, the Olympic gymnast posted a series of heartbroken emojis and said she would be “retiring from social media for the sake of my mental health.”
The two-time Olympian has been subjected to attacks on her various social media platforms in recent days, with some critics suggesting that she return the medal.
USA Gymnastics said in a joint statement with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee that Chiles had been subjected to “sustained, completely baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media.”
“No athlete should be subjected to such treatment,” the statement said. “We condemn the attacks and those who carry them out, support them or instigate them. We commend Jordan for her integrity both on and off the competition field and we continue to stand by her and support her.”
Maneca-Voinea launched an aggressive social media campaign demanding justice.
Barbosu had called for calm at the beginning of the week and blamed the jury rather than the gymnasts.
The Paris Olympics marked a comeback of sorts for one of the sport’s former superpowers. The Romanian team won medals in the team finals at 10 consecutive Olympics between 1976 and 2012 before hitting hard times in the last decade. When Barbosu and her teammates took to the court for qualifying on July 28, it was their country’s first appearance under the rings in 12 years.
“We as athletes do not deserve this, we just want to perform to our best and be rewarded according to our performance,” said Barbosu after returning to Romania. “The problem lies with the judges, with their calculations and decisions.”
American star and two-time Olympic champion Simone Biles encouraged Chiles – a longtime friend – to “keep her head up.” American standout and six-time Olympic medalist Sunisa Lee chimed in on her commentary late Saturday, pointing the finger at the judges and calling the result “unacceptable.”
