USA Gymnastics files brief with SFT in support of Jordan Chiles

September 24, 2024

USA Gymnastics files brief with SFT in support of Jordan Chiles

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 24, 2024) – USA Gymnastics (USAG) on Tuesday filed a revision application with the Swiss Federal Tribunal seeking to reopen the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) award on the Olympic women’s floor exercise bronze medal.  The application was filed in conjunction with a similar application by Jordan Chiles, petitioning the Court to reopen the CAS award based on audiovisual evidence USAG submitted on August 11 to CAS, which definitively proves coach Cecile Landi filed an inquiry into Jordan Chiles’s score well within 1 minute required by FIG rules.

USA Gymnastics’ brief was filed in Lausanne by the Geneva-based firm of Schellenberg Wittmer, together with the U.S. firms of Jenner & Block and Rubinstein ADR. To read the brief, click here.

Statement from USA Gymnastics:
“The audiovisual evidence which CAS refused to consider clearly proves Jordan’s bronze-medal finish in Paris was correct. With today’s filing, we are simply asking that the CAS arbitration be decided based on a true and accurate understanding of facts. As Jordan has publicly stated, the case at this point is about her peace and justice, and the right of all athletes to be treated fairly.  We all continue to pursue justice for Jordan.”

September 16, 2024

USA Gymnastics Statement on Swiss Federal Tribunal Filing

USA Gymnastics supports the appeal submitted today by Jordan Chiles at the Swiss Federal Tribunal as we made a collective, strategic decision to have Jordan lead the initial filing. USAG is closely coordinating with Jordan and her legal team and  will make  supportive filings with the court in the continued pursuit of justice for Jordan.

Per USA Today

Court documents released Monday reveal that the video footage at the center of Chiles’ appeal efforts was provided by director Katie Walsh and production company Religion of Sports, who received special permission to film in Bercy Arena as part of Biles’ latest documentary project, “Simone Biles: Rising.” The first two episodes of the docuseries were released prior to the 2024 Paris Olympics and two more are still to come later this year.

Full article can be found here.

At What Cost?

In a shocking turn of events on Saturday, August 10, the results of the women’s gymnastics floor exercise finals at the Paris Olympics were overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The decision reverted American gymnast Jordan Chiles’ score back to 13.666 and reinstated Romanian gymnast Ana Maria Bărbosu back to third place.

On August 16, Bărbosu received her bronze medal in a ceremony in Bucharest, Romania.

The Federation of Romanian Gymnastics filed two applications on behalf of their athletes Bărbosu, and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea after the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee changed the scoring based on the inquiry submitted by Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, on August 5. Landi believed Chiles’ difficulty score was too low, challenging the judges downgrade of her Gogean, a split leap with a 1.5-turn. That additional tenth of a point bumped her to the bronze medal position.

CAS decided that Landi handed the inquiry in late, at one minute and four seconds, instead of the one-minute allotted time. Now, the panel has ruled in favor of Bărbosu while dismissing Maneca-Voinea’s application. Because Maneca-Voinea did not submit an inquiry during the competition about the neutral deduction for going out of bounds (that based on video footage, seems to have been incorrectly taken), she is not able to appeal the deduction with CAS.

Instead of honoring the Federation of Romanian Gymnastics’ request to give all three women the bronze medal, CAS ruled that the original standings will 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 ruled as follows:

In CAS OG 24/15:

1. The application filed by Federation of Romanian Gymnastics and Ms. Ana Bărbosu on 6 August 2024, in its amended version of 8 August 2024, is partially upheld.

2. The inquiry submitted on behalf of Ms. Jordan Chiles in the Final of the women’s Floor exercise was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline provided by article 8.5 of the 2024 FIG Technical Regulations and is determined to be without effect.

3. The initial score of 13.666 given to Ms. Jordan Chiles in the final of the women’s Floor exercise shall be reinstated.

4. The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique shall determine the ranking of the Final of the women’s Floor exercise and assign the medal(s) in accordance with the above decision.

5. All other requests are dismissed.

In CAS OG 24/16:

1. The application filed by Federation Romanian Gymnastics and Ms. Sabrina Maneca-Voinea on 6 August 2024, in its amended version of 8 August 2024, is dismissed.”

While Chiles’ fans have been supporting her on social media, the UCLA gymnast has also been on the receiving end of horrific racist commentary. It was a brutal week for her while she waited for the outcome. A joint Statement from USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee criticized the CAS ruling while supporting their Team USA athlete:

“We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise. The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” the statement reads.

“Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless, and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support, or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her.”

The Federation of Romanian Gymnastics also posted a response to the ruling on their Facebook account, writing, “We laugh with one eye, we cry with one. Following the memories made at TAS by FRG and COSR, the Court of Arbitration of Sport decided that the bronze medal should be returned to Ana Maria Bărbosu,” they wrote while closing their comments to the public.

USOPC and USAG have submitted an appeal to the CAS decision. This process will likely be very long and drawn out. It’s a dramatic ending to a great week of gymnastics and the repercussions will likely be felt as the sports community calls on reforms to the inquiry and arbitration rules.

On August 15, Chiles returned to social media and posted a statement on Instagram expressing the pain she’s experienced throughout the process.

“I will never waver from my values of competing with integrity, striving for excellence, upholding the values of sportsmanship and the rules that dictate fairness. I have taken pride in cheering on everyone regardless of team or country. Finding joy again has been a culture shift and I love seeing others embrace it. I feel like I have given everyone permission to be authentic to who they are.”

I am now confronted with one of the most challenging moments of my career. Believe me when I say I have has many. I will approach this challenge as I have others – and will make every effort to ensure justice is done. I believe that at the end of this journey, the people in charge will do the right thing.”

At her medal ceremony, Bărbosu spoke about Maneca-Voinea and Chiles. “[I] can’t help but think about Sabrina and Jordan right now. It’s a difficult situation for us, with so many uncertainties and overwhelming emotions. I hope everyone understands that we have not done anything wrong at the Olympics.”

Barbosu, who has been accused of cheating and stealing, is correct. The athletes did nothing wrong in this situation, but attacks have been made on them because of largely nationalistic sentiments and a lack of understanding of the procedures by the general public.

Aly Raisman spoke out in support of Chiles on August 23. Raisman said she believes Chiles deserves a more thorough explanation of the ruling – and should keep the medal she was awarded. “Jordan deserves answers as to what evidence the Court of Arbitration for Sport has,” Raisman told Us Weekly.

On August 24, FIG president Morinari Watanabe spoke up about the controversy. “This tragedy must never happen again. Since I became FIG President, I have been promoting the use of technology in judging. Unfortunately, this tragedy happened. The use of technology in sport is now taken for granted and the FIG used to be at the forefront of introducing technology in all International Federations. But now we are no longer a pioneer. This is because we are not able to break our own prejudices because of our traditions. We need challenges. And we need the courage to move forward. It was the lack of courage to take that step forward that led to the tragedy in Paris.”

He called the situation a tragedy multiple times, but failed miserably to provide any accountability, offer an apology, or a clear explanation of what happened and who was involved. His words were empty and only ignited the gymnastics community further, including Landi who took to social media to fire back against Watanabe’s words as a “very disappointing statement.” She went on to address the FIG and IOC writing, “if @gymnastics and @iocmedia think the USA is done fighting, well they are wrong. The athletes deserve better especially after everything they have done for this sport.”

USA Gymnastics says it has evidence the inquiry was submitted at 47 seconds. The detailed release from CAS on the decision (available on their website) also contains quotes of detailed exchanges with Ms. Donatella Sacchi, President of the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee within the FIG. USAG is now pursuing the matter through the Swiss Federal Tribunal which could take at least 30 days.

It was also confirmed the Swiss Federal Tribunal has in its hands an appeal on behalf of Sabrina Voinea against the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Ultimately, we are left with more questions than answers:

• The FIG was not able to identify who even took the verbal inquiry, something that “surprised” the panel
• If you can’t identify the person, how can you confirm it was after a minute?
• Isn’t it possible it could have taken that unidentified person at least 4 seconds from getting the notification to actually enter it into the Omega system?
• The FIG says Omega system indicates 1 minute and 4 seconds. If that’s the case, how are there no measures that stop the review from taking place, being confirmed and new scores issued?

Furthermore, what really went on behind closed doors in the days following the medal ceremony? Sadly, we may never know, proving that as much as things have changed in the sport, when it comes to the secrecy and silence of those in charge at the highest levels, in this situation, the more they have remained the same.

The floor final should have also been a glorious celebration for Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. Her historic gold medal moment and achievement has been shifted to the back burner as the conversation remains on the bronze.

It seems, for now, the athletes are left without a choice to defend themselves while the powers that be remain evasive.

“To me, everything that has gone on is not about the medal, it’s about my skin color,” Chiles said at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit in September. “I made history and I’ll always continue to make history and something that I rightfully did. I followed the rules, my coach followed the rules.”

Kristyn Burtt, Chris Korotky, Megan Roth and Christy Sandmaier have contributed to this article. See more in the 2024 Commemorative Olympic Issue of Inside Gymnastics magazine on this developing story.

Photos by Ricardo Bufolin for Inside Gymnastics