Jordan Chiles was visibly elated after studying she had gained a bronze medal within the ladies’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 decide’s error on Chiles’ issue rating.
Nonetheless, that elation seems to be short-lived, because the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Saturday that Landi’s enchantment was filed too late and, due to this fact, invalid.
Chiles was initially given a 5.800 issue 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 enchantment 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 enchantment.
Now Chiles, 4 days after she acquired the medal, might be forced to give it back if the Federation of Worldwide Gymnastics determines it essential, per the ruling.
U.S. Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee stood behind Chiles, blasting the court docket’s resolution in a statement, saying the enchantment was “filed in good religion” and, they believed, in accordance with the foundations.
It’s unclear what might come subsequent within the course of, however Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci, who got here to Barbosu’s protection, endorsed the idea suggested by her nation’s delegation that every one the athletes who completed third by way of fifth ought to obtain bronze medals, as they should not be penalized for the judges’ unique error.
