Jordan Chiles Bronze Medal Controversy Takes a New Turn as Latest Evidence Shows FIG at Fault

Chaos and confusion—those are the words that now cloud what should have been a moment of triumph for Jordan Chiles. The American gymnast was awarded the bronze medal in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics after submitting an appeal, which moved her from fifth to third place. That was her first individual Olympic medal. But all hell broke loose when the Romanian Olympic Committee insisted that Chiles’s appeal was filed four seconds after the one-minute time limit.

The International Gymnastics Federation stripped Chiles of the medal and awarded it to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the American’s appeal to keep the medal. “I have no words. This decision feels unjust and comes as a significant blow, not just to me, but to everyone who has championed my journey,” Chiles wrote on social media.

But now, some new details have emerged that bring just one word to everyone’s minds: Incompetence.

CAS ruling found the following surprising discrepancies:

1. “The Panel was surprised that the FIG was not able to identify the person who recorded the information as to time, and that no clear and established mechanism appeared to be in place to address so important a matter as the timing of a request for an inquiry.”

2. “Upon being questioned by the Panel at the Hearing as to the timing of Ms. Chiles’ inquiry, Ms. Sacchi (FIG president) admitted that when she received the inquiry on behalf of Ms. Chiles, she was not in a position to verify – and did not verify – whether it had been submitted within time, namely within the 1-minute window. Ms. Sacchi explained on receiving the notification of the inquiry by electronic means (on her “tablet”) the information offered no indication that it had been received late.”

3. “The Panel put numerous questions to Ms. Sacchi regarding the process whereby an inquiry was filed, including information as to how the monitoring that the inquiry was submitted within the 1-minute window took place, and who was responsible and in charge, of such monitoring, and in particular whether it was (i) the OMEGA electronic system; and/or (ii) Ms. Sacchi’s superior; and/or (iii) any other person. In response to these questions both FIG and Sacchi were unable to provide any answers that indicated that any system for monitoring the timeliness of any inquiry was in place.”

Well, these findings only leave us with more questions.

1. If the FIG couldn’t identify the person who took the verbal injury, how did they determine the injury happened after the one-minute rule?
2. There is a possibility that the person who took the verbal injury needed a few seconds to enter it into the Omega system.
3. The CAS report suggests that the Omega system indicates the injury was filed at 1 minute and 4 seconds. If that was the case, why were there no measures taken to stop the review? Things don’t end here.

It was also found that the person who received the inquiry was not a FIG official and did not appear on any of their documents. Further, the report also stated that neither side disputed the 1 minute 4 seconds reported by the Omega system. The initial score of 13.666 given to Jordan Chiles will be reinstated.

What’s surprising about the whole incident is that FIG (the International Gymnastics Federation) was founded in 1881 and has been the governing body of Gymnastics worldwide. It is also recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In fact, the FIG controls eight disciplines: Gymnastics for All, Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Trampoline Gymnastics (including Double Mini-trampoline and Tumbling), Aerobic Gymnastics, Acrobatic Gymnastics and Parkour.

The confusion continues as the USAG now pursues the matter through the Swiss Federal Tribunal. On the other hand, while the FIG and the CAS are yet to come up with satisfactory answers to the USAG’s questions, members of the gymnastics community and beyond keep opining that the drama should be resolved amicably.

Jordan Chiles isn’t out of the woods yet, but she has people in her corner!

Jordan Chiles is going through one of the most challenging times of her career. But the immense support she has been receiving is overwhelming. Retired tennis star Patrick McEnroe had some thoughts to share about the whole fiasco.

“To me, at the end of the day, there were so many mistakes made by the judges in this instance…So IOC…wake up and do the right thing,” the tennis veteran grumbled. US Democrat Representative Stephen Cohen also personally wrote to the CAS to consider Chiles’ situation with fairness considering the judges didn’t score one of her moves in the first place.

Chiles also has Team USA and her coach Cecile Canqueteau-Landi’s support. Jordan Chiles and Team USA have no plans to return the hard-earned medal as there were significant errors in judging Chiles’s routine, plus chaos in the procedures later. It looks like this saga could go on for longer than what we would expect.

Reflecting on the situation, how do you think Jordan Chiles’ misfortune could be mitigated in a better and more acceptable manner? Do you believe the situation could be altered so that both Chiles and Ana Barbosu could agree to the final verdict by the CAS? Share your thoughts with a comment below!