In a surprising flip of occasions on Saturday, Aug. 10, the outcomes of the ladies’s gymnastics flooring train finals on the Paris Olympics have been overturned by the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport — and it leaves the medal consequence in query. The choice reverted American gymnast Jordan Chiles’ rating again to 13.666 and reinstated Romanian gymnast Ana Maria Bărbosu again to 3rd place.
The Federation of Romanian Gymnastics filed two purposes on behalf of their athletes Bărbosu, and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea after the Worldwide Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Ladies’s Creative Gymnastics Technical Committee modified the scoring primarily based on the inquiry submitted by Biles’ coach, Cecile Landi, on Aug. 5. Landi believed her issue rating was too low on her Gogean, a cut up leap with a 1.5-turn, and was not precisely credited by the judges. That further tenth of a degree bumped her to the bronze medal place.
CAS determined that Landi handed the inquiry in late at one minute and 4 seconds, as an alternative of the one-minute allotted time. Now, the panel has dominated in favor of Bărbosu whereas dismissing Maneca-Voinea’s software.
As a substitute of honoring the Federation of Romanian Gymnastics request to offer all three girls the bronze medal, CAS dominated that the unique standings might be honored with Bărbosu in third place at 13.700, Maneca-Voinea in fourth place at 13.700, and Chiles in fifth place at 13.666.
“The arbitral Panel dominated as follows:
In CAS OG 24/15:
- The appliance filed by Federation of Romanian Gymnastics and Ms. Ana Bărbosu on 6 August 2024, in its amended model of 8 August 2024, is partially upheld.
- The inquiry submitted on behalf of Ms. Jordan Chiles within the Remaining of the ladies’s Flooring train was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline offered by article 8.5 of the 2024 FIG Technical Rules and is decided to be with out impact.
- The preliminary rating of 13.666 given to Ms. Jordan Chiles within the last of the ladies’s Flooring train shall be reinstated.
- The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique shall decide the rating of the Remaining of the ladies’s Flooring train and assign the medal(s) in accordance with the above choice.
- All different requests are dismissed.
In CAS OG 24/16:
- The appliance filed by Federation Romanian Gymnastics and Ms. Sabrina Maneca-Voinea on
6 August 2024, in its amended model of 8 August 2024, is dismissed.”
It will likely be as much as FIG to “decide the rating of the Remaining of the ladies’s flooring train and assign the medal(s) in accordance with the above choice,” however the ruling has already had devastating penalties for Chiles who broke her silence on social media. She posted 4 damaged coronary heart emojis on her Instagram Story after which added a message to her followers in a second submit. She wrote, “I’m taking this time and eradicating myself from social media for my psychological well being thanks (sic).” Landi additionally added her personal broken-heart emoji on her Instagram web page.
Whereas Chiles’ followers have been supporting her on social media, the UCLA gymnast has additionally been on the receiving finish of horrific racist commentary. It’s been a brutal week for her whereas she waited for the end result. A joint Assertion from USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee criticized the CAS ruling whereas supporting their Crew USA athlete:
“We’re devastated by the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport ruling relating to girls’s flooring train. The inquiry into the Problem Worth of Jordan Chiles’ flooring train routine was filed in good religion and, we believed, in accordance with FIG guidelines to make sure correct scoring,” the assertion reads.
“All through the enchantment course of, Jordan has been topic to constant, totally baseless, and intensely hurtful assaults on social media. No athlete ought to be topic to such remedy. We condemn the assaults and people who have interaction, help, or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity each on and off the competitors flooring, and we proceed to face by and help her.”
The Federation of Romanian Gymnastics additionally posted a response to the ruling on their Fb account, writing, “We giggle with one eye, we cry with one. Following the reminiscences made at TAS by FRG and COSR, the Courtroom of Arbitration of Sport determined that the bronze medal ought to be returned to Ana Maria Bărbosu,” they wrote whereas closing their feedback to the general public.
The ultimate ruling on who will get a medal might be decided by FIG and the IOC, Worldwide Olympic Committee, so this received’t be the final we hear of this story. It’s a dramatic ending to an important week of gymnastics and the repercussions will possible be felt because the sports activities group calls on reforms to the inquiry and arbitration guidelines.