PARIS — There’s been another major twist in the Olympic gymnastics drama involving Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal.
USA Gymnastics said Sunday that it has obtained new video evidence showing that Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, submitted the inquiry into her score in the women’s floor exercise final before the one-minute deadline − 47 seconds after her score was announced, to be exact.
The governing body said in a statement that it has submitted the video, as well as a formal letter, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as part of a request to reinstate Chiles’ score of 13.766 and allow her to keep her bronze medal from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
‘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 said 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.’
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A spokesperson for USA Gymnastics said that, due to confidentiality rules regarding CAS appeals, it could not provide additional information about the video, including its source.
A CAS spokesperson did not immediately reply to a message seeking comment. And the International Olympic Committee did not immediately reply to an email asking if the existence of such video would alter its decision to strip Chiles’ medal, regardless of whether CAS reconsiders its ruling.
The new video marks the latest twist in the saga stemming from the women’s floor exercise final at Bercy Arena earlier this week, where Chiles leapfrogged Ana Barbosu of Romania at the very end of the competition following an appeal over her score.
Chiles originally received a score of 13.666 before her coaches submitted an inquiry with the judging panel, arguing that she should not have received a one-tenth deduction to her difficulty score for her tour jete full, which is a split leap. The judges agreed and elevated Chiles’ score to 13.766, which gave her Olympic bronze and left Barbosu − whose score was 13.700 − in shock.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation later filed an appeal with CAS, claiming that Landi submitted the inquiry into Chiles score precisely four seconds past the one minute that is allotted for such inquiries. CAS agreed and cited that fact as the basis for its ruling Saturday, which knocked her score back down to 13.666.
The CAS decision triggered a series of procedural dominoes that eventually prompted the IOC to announce that it was stripping Chiles’ bronze and giving it to Barbosu.
The issue, then, simply comes down to the timeline − a difference of 17 seconds that could decide whether Chiles will get to keep her first individual Olympic medal.
The CAS ruling did not specify how the Romanian Gymnastics Federation determined that the inquiry had been four seconds late, and the federation itself did not immediately reply to a request for comment Sunday.
According to the technical regulations for competition that are enforced by the International Gymnastics Federation, a gymnast’s coach can submit an inquiry about a score at any point until the next gymnast starts their routine. But with the last athlete of a group or rotation, as Chiles was in Monday’s floor final, the rule is different and the coach only has one minute ‘after the score is shown on the scoreboard.’
‘The person designated to receive the verbal inquiry has to record the time of receiving it, either in writing or electronically, and this starts the procedure,’ the FIG’s technical regulations state.
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad.
