Dispute over Jordan Chiles’ Olympic floor routine rolls on as US claims CAS sent emails to the wrong addresses
The decision led the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to request that American gymnast Jordan Chiles return the bronze medal she was originally awarded.
In a media release on Wednesday, CAS maintains that, during its hearing with Romanian and US officials, there was never a dispute over USA Gymnastics (USAG) missing the one-minute deadline to challenge Chiles’ floor exercise score.
Olympic judges had inially revised Chiles’ score, raising her into the bronze medal position and bumping Bărbosu off the podium.
“At the hearing, there was no dispute between the parties that Ms. Chiles’ inquiry was submitted 1 minute and 4 seconds after her score was official [sic] displayed on the scoreboard,” CAS said in its release.
“All parties accepted as clear and determinative the report prepared by Omega, the official timekeeper for the Olympic Games, and submitted by the FIG itself. No party sought the admittance of other evidence.”
USAG has previously stated that it did not come into possession of video which it claims proves that its inquiry was submitted after just 47 seconds until after CAS had already made its ruling.
“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,” USAG said Sunday.
The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and USAG also now claim that CAS initially sent “crucial communications” to the wrong email addresses, and as a result, the parties were not able to properly prepare for the hearing.
“The USOPC strongly contests the CAS decision due to significant procedural errors,” USOPC told CNN Thursday. “From August 6-9, CAS sent crucial communications to erroneous email addresses at USOPC and USAG, an error not corrected until August 9 – three days after filing, two days past the deadline to submit objections, and less than 24 hours before the hearing.
“This deprived us of adequate time to respond meaningfully or gather necessary evidence. We informed CAS of our objections immediately.”
Both parties say they will continue to appeal the matter.
“Our pursuit of truth in this matter remains unwavering,” the USOPC said.
On Monday, USA Gymnastics said it would “continue to pursue every possible avenue and appeal process, including to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, to ensure the just scoring, placement, and medal award for Jordan.”
Last week, Chiles posted four breaking hearts emojis on her Instagram story, explaining how she was “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health.”
CNN’s Thomas Schlachter contributed to reporting.
Despite the ongoing controversy, Jordan Chiles continues to excel in her chosen sport of gymnastics.In the midst of this sporting controversy, the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee and USA Gymnastics have expressed their commitment to overturning the decision.
