USA Gymnastics head coach Cecile Landi submitted the inquiry to change Jordan Chiles’ score 47 seconds after it was posted instead of 64, according to a statement from the organization Sunday.
A letter and video evidence was submitted to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, the statement said, and USA Gymnastics called for Chiles’ bronze medal in the Olympic women’s floor routine — which she had to return after the court ruled that the inquiry was allegedly submitted four seconds after the deadline of one minute — to be returned to the 23-year-old.
“The time-stamped, video evidence submitted by USA Gymnastics Sunday evening 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 continued in its statement. “The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the tribunal’s decision and thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it.”
Jordan Chiles was stripped of her bronze medal from the women’s floor final.USA TODAY Sports
That added another wrinkle to the ongoing Olympics saga, which has continued even with all of the gymnastics events over and the closing ceremony concluding everything Sunday afternoon.
Chiles originally finished in fifth place in the women’s floor final, but after Landi’s injury, a scoring change bumped her up to third behind Simone Biles, who took silver, and gold medalist Rebeca Andrade from Brazil — with the trio making a viral scene during the ceremony when Biles and Chiles both bowed to Andrade.
When Chiles was stripped of her bronze medal, though, Romania’s Ana Barbosu moved back into third.
Chiles received support from Biles, Team USA teammate Suni Lee and her sister, Jazmin, with Jazmin writing on social media that Chiles has received racist messages.
She also blasted the situation her sibling has been forced to navigate in Paris.
“They have officially, 5 days later, stripped her of one of her medals,” Jazmin wrote in a post on her Instagram story, in part. “Not because she didn’t win, not because she was drugged, not because she stepped out of bounds. Not because she wasn’t good enough.
“But because the judges failed to give her difficulty [score] and forced an inquiry to be made.”
