Team USA star gymnast Jordan Chiles was stripped of the bronze medal she earned at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but it doesn’t sound like she has any plans of actually returning it.
According to a report from Christine Brennan of USA Today, Team USA has “no plans” for Jordan Chiles to return her gold medal after it was stripped from her in a controversial decision.
“American Jordan Chiles is in the United States and still has possession of the bronze medal that was awarded to her in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics, two people with knowledge of the situation who did not want to be identified have told USA TODAY Sports,” Brennan wrote for USA Today.
“There are no plans for Chiles to give the bronze medal back as U.S. officials say they plan to appeal what the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee said were ‘significant procedural errors’ by CAS. That appeal would presumably go to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.”
Chiles was initially scored as finishing fifth in the women’s floor event with a score of 13.666, but her score was then bumped up by 0.1 following an inquiry from her coach that revealed that her routine was scored incorrectly by the judges. The new score gave her the bronze medal over Romania’s Ana Barbosu, who had already begun celebrating her apparent bronze medal victory.
However, following an appeal from Romania, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the inquiry from the United States was “untimely,” as it came four seconds after the limit of one minute to submit an inquiry. So Chiles was stripped of her medal and it was given to Barbosu, even though Chiles’ accurate score was higher.
The United States has since provided conclusive evidence showing that the inquiry was indeed submitted in time and was not “untimely,” as the Court of Arbitration for Sport determined, but the CAS said it was not able to overturn its decision, stating that “rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented.”
The United States has vowed to keep fighting the decision, and Chiles clearly has no interest in giving up the medal.
