U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles may have to return Olympic bronze medal after ruling : NPR

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PARIS — An unbiased arbitration court docket vacated a last-minute inquiry within the Olympic gymnastics ground train last that boosted the rating of U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles, and the game’s governing physique formally moved a Romanian athlete into third place — a sequence of occasions Saturday that put Chiles’ bronze medal in query.

Judges in final Monday’s last in Paris had initially given Chiles a rating of 13.666, which put her in fifth place behind two Romanian gymnasts, Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, each of whom had scored 13.7.

As a result of Chiles had been the final to carry out her ground routine, Barbosu, who held a tiebreaker over Maneca-Voinea, started to rejoice when the preliminary rating got here by, considering she had received the bronze as an alternative.

However Chiles’ coaches believed the judges had underscored her, they usually filed an inquiry shortly after the preliminary rating got here by. The judges agreed and revised her rating up by a tenth of a degree to 13.766, transferring her into third place over Barbosu. Chiles was awarded the bronze medal.

The following day, the Romanian gymnastics group filed a protest with the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, which oversees Olympic gymnastics, searching for to have the inquiry overturned.

In a call Saturday, the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) mentioned that Chiles’ inquiry had certainly been filed too late. Gymnastics guidelines require that inquiries be filed inside one minute; Chiles’ inquiry was filed after one minute and 4 seconds, the court docket mentioned. With the inquiry vacated, her rating was reverted to 13.666.

Quickly after, FIG formally up to date the outcomes of Monday’s competitors, transferring Barbosu into third and Chiles to fifth.

It’s unclear what is going to occur to the bronze medal awarded to Chiles.

The Romanian protest had additionally requested that every one three athletes be ranked collectively in third place by FIG, in an effort to share the bronze — a request that FIG apparently denied.

In a joint assertion, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee mentioned they have been “devastated” by the CAS ruling.

“The inquiry into the Issue Worth of Jordan Chiles’ ground train routine was filed in good religion and, we believed, in accordance with FIG guidelines to make sure correct scoring,” the assertion mentioned.

In a put up on her Instagram, Chiles mentioned she was broken-hearted. “I’m taking this time and eradicating myself from social media for my psychological well being,” she wrote.

“All through the attraction course of, Jordan has been topic to constant, completely baseless and intensely hurtful assaults on social media,” the USA Gymnastics and USOPC assertion mentioned. No athlete ought to be topic to such therapy. We condemn the assaults and people who interact, assist or instigate them.”